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lildltorial A<t€fress. 

Rivington, Uit: King's ptint(;r, it is known, 
was a tert'ible lory dur ng the KevoiutionHrj' 
War, and was always asstiilijJg tlie rebels. ^»*- 
Ktlma Allen, the dare devil of Vermont, de 
termined to give him a licking; ii?:d some 
reminiscenses in the New Tork Express, show 
the clever manner in which Uivington got rid 
of the unpleasant airair : 

He had b en bold in his misrepresentations 
of the "Rebels," and so pergonal in ills ren^ai-ks 
that although he had assurances from Govern<!P 
Clinton of safety for his person and properly, 
yet there were some esjjecled visiters that he 
did not wish to see. The foremost of these 
was Etiian Alien. Kivington was a fine portly 
looking man, and wore powder. At last Allen 
appeared. His clerk who first saw hiip, well 
knew his master's horror (or Allen. Kivington 
afterwards gave to Mr. Dunlap the fsdioa'ium 
account of the meeting;— "I was sitting after a 
good'dinner, alone v.'iih my botile of Madeira 
before nr^e, when 1 lienrd an unusiial noise in 
the street^ and a huz/.a iroin the boys. I was 
in the 2d story, and on stepping to ttie window, 
saw a tall figure in tarnished regimentals, with 
a large cocked hat and an enormously long 
sword, followed by a crowd of hoys, who occa- 
sionally cheered him with huxzas, of which he 
seemed insensible, lie eume Uj) to my door 
and slopped —i covdd see no nriore— my heart 
told me it was Ethan Alien. I shut down my 
window, and retired behind my table and bot- 
tle, i was certain the hour of reckoning was 
com^. There was no retreat. Mr. Stapls, 
my clerk, came in paU r than ever, and clasp- j 
ing bis hands, said, <Master, he has come. 1 1 
know it. He entered the store and asked if! 
Jrtmcs liivington lived iicre. I answered^ yes, 
sir.' *Ih lie at home?' 'I will go and see, sir,' 
1 fjuid; and now mas*er what is to be done ? — 
Uiere he is, sir, in the store, and the boys 
peeping at him from the street.' I had made 
up my n*ind— 1 looked at the Madeirii — possi- 
bly took a glass. Sliow liim ui^, said I, — and I 
thought if such Maiieira cannot mollify him, he 
must be harder than adamaiii. Tb^i'c was a 
fearful moment of suspense. I listened — I 
heard him on t:>e stairs, and henfd his long 
sword clanking on every step. In iie stalked. 
♦Is your name James I{ivington>' It is, sir, smd 



no man coukl be more happy to see general 
Evlsjus Allen— take u clsair, sir; by the table; 
and afterwards h glaJis oj'this ilJadeira. He sat 
down and began — *iir, i cotr.e ' Not s \vord> 
ggneral, till you take a glass, and I fdied— ten 
;)car old, on oiy own kecpin>j— another g-hs:-» 
sir, and then we will talic of o|d iifiairs. Sir, 
we finished two boiUes, and parted as good 
friends as if nothing h^^d ever happened to 
jjiake us otherwise. 



The Grave of Ethan Allen. 

[From the Lewiston (Me.) Journal.] 

To-day I h.ive paid a visit to the grave of Ethan 
Allen, in Burhngton, Vt. The cemetery in which his 
remains lie is nearly a mile from the lake, but the sit- 
\iation is beautiful. The inclosure is shaded by a 
large number of evergreens, and ornamented in that 
tasteful and impressive manner with which mourning 
friends love to decorate the resting-places of those 
who have gone before them. The words over the 
gateway disclose the trustful spirit with which the 
Christian has entered the confines of eternity. 

" I am the resurrection and the life, saith the Lord." 

As I stood over the grave of Allen, I could but 
wonder at tl'C narrow space which confined a spirit, 
once so uneasy, brave and unconquerable. Yes ! 
here mouldered the remains of him who, in the 
gloomy morning of our revolutionary struggle, col- 
lected from the country around a few choice spirits 
and hast(^ned to Ticonderoga to summon the British 
commander, " in the name of Jehovah and the Con- 
tine) itid Congress," to surrender. When liberty 
for>pd such defenders, victory was certain. 

A plain maible slab is placed horizontally over the 
grave; but tlie zeal of pilgrims to this hallowed spot 
has broken and removed as relics nearly one-half of 
the stone. A portion of the inscription is wanting, 
but what remains runs thus : 

" GEN. ETHAN ALLEN 

RESTS BENEATH THIS 8T0HB. 

• * « « « 

The 12th day of Feb., 1789, 
Aged 50 years. 
His spirit tried the mercies of his God, 
In whom bs beliey^d and strongly ttvwtcd." 



Tlie Honored Dead. 

MONUMENT AND STATUE TO ETHAN ALLEN. 
It was intended to have the monument to Ethan Allen 
completed before winter- but unexpected hindrances 
have delayed the work and it will not be finished trll next 
season. But besides the monument provided for by le- 
gislative enactment, the purpose now is to have a charac- 
teristic colossal statue, probably of granite, and executed 
by «n artist of genius, placed on the top of the column. 
Leave was obtained of the Legislature to have this token 
of individual respect for the memory of the hero sur- 
mount the public memorial of the State. The cost of such 
a statue will be $2,000, and a subscription is now in most 
successful progress under the authority of the committee, 
John N. Pomeroy and Charles Adams, Esquires, to raise 
the means. Mr. Warren Root, of this place, for the pre- 
sent has it in charge. The subscriptions are limited to one 
dollar from each individual, (save that heads of fimilie? 
are allowed to give at that rate for the members of 
their families,) so that no one need be hindered from 
joining in a work so grateful to the feelings 
of Vermonters. To save time and expense, all subscrip- 
tions are paid as they are subscribed. As soon as the 
amount is raised (and that could be done in a week if 
persons enough could be called upon in that time) , the 
committee will place the execution of the statue in pro- 
gress, so that when the monumental column is raised the 
statue can be elevated to its place also — thus avoiding 
further delay and a heavy additional expense. — Burling- 
ton, Vt, Free Press, Dec. 4. . ' 






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NARRATIVE 



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F 



COL. ETHAN ALLEN'S ^ 




From the time of his being taken by the British, neai 

Momreal, on the 25th day of September, in the 

year 1775, to the time of his eyxliange, 

on the 6th day of May, 1778. 

CONTAINING 

HIS VOYAGES AND TRAVELS, 

With the most remarkable occurrences respecting himself, and many 
©iher continental Prisoners, of dilFcrent ranks and characters, 
which fell under his observa -ion in the course of the same \ 
particularly the destruction of the prisoners at New- 
York, by General Sir William Howe, in the years 
1776 and 1777 ; interspersed with some 
Political Observations. 



IVritten by himself^ and notv fiublished for the mfarnia- 
tion of the curious in all Nations. 



When God from chaos gave this world to be, 
Man then he form'd, and formed him to be free. 

Ainerican Independence , a poon, by Freneat. 

To which are now added a considerable number of explanatorv 

and occasional notes, together with an index of reference to 

the most remarkabh occurrences in the narrative. 



fVALFOLE, JV, ZT. 
PUBLISHED BY THOMAS Sc THOMAS, 

FROM THE PRESS OF CHARTER ^ HALE. 

1807. 






r 

L 



DISTRICT OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE." 

Fomvzi : 

~i ^e it nmtraUtth) That on this 

' twenty second day of January, in the thirty first 

' year of the independence of the United States of 

America— -.Isaiah Thomas and Alexander Thomas of 
aid district, booksellers, have deposited in this office the 
itle of a book, whereof they claim as Proprietors, in the 
bllowing words, to wit : " ^^ narrative of Col. Ethan AU 
fTz'ff Captivity ; from the time of his being taken by the 
British, 7iear Montreal, on the 25th day of September, in the 
rear 1775, to the time of his exchange, on the 6th day of 
Way, 1778 : containing his voyages and travels, nvith themosi 
'e?narkable occurrences respecting himself, and many other 
Continental prisoners of different ranks, and characters, 
which fell under his observation, in the same period: panic- 
ilarly the destruction of the prisoners, at Keiv-York, by Gen. 
Sir William Ho^ve, in the years 1776 aiid 1777 : Inter spers- 
td with some political observations. Written by Himself 
IVhen God from chaos gave this ivorld to be, 
Man then heform'd, andform'd him to ^e/re^.— Freneau. 
To ivhichure noiv added a considerable number of explanato* 
ry and occasional notes, together ivith an index of reference t9 
the most remarkable occurrences in the narrative.^* 

In conformity to an act of Congress of the United States, 
entitled, " An act for the encouragement of learning by 
securing copies of Maps, Charts and other books to the 
authors and proprietors therein mentioned"— And also 
*' An act for the encouragement of learnmg by securmg 
copies of Maps, Charts and other books to the authors 
and proprietors of such copies therein mentioned, and ex- 
tending the benefit thereof to the arts of designmg, engrav- 
ing and etching historical and other prints." 

A true copy of Record, ^.^t^xt r^i f 

R. CUTTS SHANNON, Clerk, 

Jttest, R, CUTTS SITJJVJVOJ^, Clerk of said District. 



CONTENTS. 



SAGS. 

Intvoduction - - " ^ 

Orders from Connecticut to take Ticonderoga, &c. - 15 

Col. A. arrives there wii.h230 Green Moun:aiaBoys, May Qui 

1773 - - - ■ !^ 

His address to ofiacers and soldiers - i^- 

Capt. Delaplacc surrenders the garrison, May 10, 1773 20 

Col. Warner sent to take Crown Point, which was done, togeth- 
er with 100 pieces of cannon - - 21 
Capt. Arnold takes possession of a British sloop of war at St, 

Johns, and the garrison, a Serjeant and twelve men 32 

Speculative thoughts on the union of Canada with the States 23 
Generals Schuyler and Montgomery ordered into Canada 24 

Mission into Canada to reconnoitre, £vC. - - 25 

A ccount of his success - - -27 

Major Brown's proposition to take Montreal - 23 

Preparations previous to attack on the city - - 29 

Capture and detention of certain persons supposed spits SO 

The escape of one exposes Col. A's plan - » j^. 

Gen. Carlton's preparations to embark previous to knowing the 

small number of Col. A's party - - 31 

Number and description of the enemy's troops, and those under 

Col. A. - - - 32 

John Dugan's and Mr. Young^s flight, with their detachments 33 
Retreat or Col. A. to avoid being surrounded - 34 

His narrow escape of being shot - . - ji,. 

Surrender ot himself and party, consisting of 38 - 35 

Account of a horrid attack on Col. A. by two savages, and his 

singular mode of escaping their fury - - /5. 

Walks into Montreal between a British oiKcer and one of the 

French noblesse - . - 37 

General Prescoti's treatment of him - - 38 

Humane, but bold attempt to save the lives of thirteen of his 

men, Canadians - - - 3^ 

His continement onboard the Gaspee schooner of war 40 

Conjecture respecting the number of his men lost and wounded ib. 
Treatment of prisoners - . - 41 

Description of his irons - - - 42 

Generous conduct of Bradley, a British officer - 43 

The no less true than e.ttraordinary feat of twisting a ten pen^iy 

nail from his irons vx^ith his teeth - . ' O- 

Challenges Dr. l^ace for his abusa - -■ 45 



lY tOJf TENTS. 

Polite treatmenS: received from Capt. M'Cloud and Capt. l.it- 

tkjo];in, of the Briush - * - /^. 
€oI. A. OiTers Capt Littlejohn his services as second in a dud, 

which the later accepts - - _ 47 

Gen. Anield's deiachiiient appears ojfQjiebec - 48 
Col A. sets sail for England, as a prisoner; on board were Gol, 

Guy Johnson, Col. Closs, &c. - - H, 
Disagreable confinement on board ship - - 49 
Continued forty days under distressing circumstances - 52 
Odd dress of Col A. on his arrival in England, and the excite- 
ment of public curiosity - - -53 
Friendly conduct cf a gentleman of the name of Temple 55 
Writes to Congress, letter not sent - - 56 
The generous Lieut. Hamilton - - - 58 
Col. A's confidence in his courage, and refiecilons on the possi- 
ble event of his execution - - 59 
I lis discourse with gentlemen who came 50 miles to see him 60 
Boasts of his being a " full blooded yankee" - 63 
Converses with two clergymen on Christianity, 8cc. - ib. 
Ordered on board the Solebay frigate, and irons taken off Jan. 

8th,irr6. - - -^ - ib. 

Generous offer of an Irishman, by name Gillegan - - 65 

Liberal donations of Irish gentlem^en in Cork - 67 

Pecuniary cifer of Mr. Hays to Col. Allen - - 69 

Caj)t. Symond's malignity - - - T'O 

Time of leaving England Jan. 8th, and Cork Feb. 12th 71 

Another tribute to the generosity of an Irishman - 73 

Arrives at Cape Fear, in North Carolina, May 3d - 77 

Great annoyance of the enemy from American riflemen 78 
'Finds himself under a more ungenerous enemy than Capt. Sy- 

m.onds ; viz. Capt. Montague - - 79 

Genercsitv of British iTiidsiiipmen - - 8:^ 
Anchors off New-York, beginning of June, and remains there 

three days - - - - »^'. 

Visited by Gov. Tryon, Mr Kemp, and other royalists 83 

Arrives 2.1 II alifa:^, middle of June - - ilf^ 

Cure of the scurvy by strawberries _ - - 85 

Complains to Gov. Avbuthnot, of Halifax, of ill treatment 86 

Inhuman confinement, and remonstrance against it - 39 

Manner of employing tlie hours of captivity - - 90 

K-ndnes3 cf a Mrs. Blacden - - -^ ih. 

Writes 10 Gen. "Massey a severe letter - - 91 

Leaves Hah'fos about the iSth October - - 92 

Gentleman-like treatment from Capt. Smith • - 9:1 

Proposal of a Capt. Burk to murder the Captain and his men 95 

Firmly opposed by Col. Allen - - 96 

Arrives at New-York, about ihc Ust of OcLober -^ 97 
12cLs between Col. A. and the captain cf the transport ship to 

which he was removed 9^ 



:■:»- 



CONTENTS. V 

Prisoners landed at New -York, on some of the last days of Nq- 

vember - - - - • - lOl 

Escape of sergeant Roger Moore and others - - ib. 

Allowed to be on his parole in the city ... 102 

Inhnmanity and enormities comnaitted on the prisoners in 

New-York - - - - Ht, 

Bad quality of provisions - - - 106 

Advice to a young Pennsylvanian, a prisoner - - lOB 

Tries, with other officers on parol, to relieve the sufferings of 

the prisoners - - - - lid 

Gen. Howe charged with being highly culpable in hla orders of 

treatment of prisoners - - - - 111 

Prisoners' sufferings made known by Col, AllciV to Colonels 

Magaw, Miles and Atlee. - - - ll4 

Gen. Washington's address at Trenton, by f^.lse fires, &c. 11 r 

Prisoners sent within Gen. \Vashington\i lines for an exchange 11'^ 
Conjecture of the number of prisoners wlio perislied in New- 
York, from various causes - - - l^t 
Propcsalof Gen. Sir Win. Howe, to Col. Allen, through an 

agent, to accept a commission intha BritUh service l'^^. 

Curious answer to the-agent ... 

Qiiartered on the West part of Long-Island, Jan. 22, 1777 l'2'l 
Gen. Burgoyne's conquest of Ticonderoga - iy. 

Taken toNew-York, on the false pretence of breaking his pau^lelSS 
Inhuman treatment in confir.em.ent - . ;,>. 

Spirited behavior of Capt. Travis, under severe suTrrin^s V2T 

Col, Allen, allov/ed a piece of p^rk and some biscuit to eat, ca 

the third day cf his confinement - - 123 

SuiTeringsof Capt. Vandyke, Williaai I^Iiller, Mjjor Wells, 

Capt. "Bisseil, &c. &ic. - - 129 

Description of the i^ridsh provost - . IS'i 

Vilecharacter of Joshua Loring, commissary of prisonars 13G 

Gen. St. Clair evacuates Ticonderoga, j uly 6th, 1777 133 

Col, Hale's nnproper neglect to assist col. Warner 139 

Battle between Gen, Eraser's troops, and those com.manded by 

colonels Warner and Francis - , ' iu. 

The brave col. Francis falls in fighting for his country ilf, 

Retrt-at of col. Warner, after a brave resistance - ^^, 

Gen. Stark, and the battle at Bennmg on, col, Herrick,&c. 141 
Col. Baum and a col. Pfester, killed, of the IZ-ritish - I.43 

Gei.. Stark re-attacked by a reinforcemen .fllOO - ib. 

Col. Warner with 130 men, opportunely comes to their assiet- 

ance - . _ „ I43 

The enemy meet with a complete defeat - - ib. 

Proclamation of Gen, Burgcyne - >. 14^ 

Downfall and surrender of Burgoyne - - I49 

The c: 1 j.^f 1 etUogises the French government 4. 1 52 

The colc-nel lands en I, jberty ground , » I55 



CONTENTS. Vi 

Acco-mpanies col Sheldon to Washi'ii'gr*»H?s^heSd quaTters 156 

Is tredted respectfully by Washington - _ Of, 

X. eaves headquarters in company witli- Gen. Gates and suit 

for Fishkill - - . 15f 

Bids farewell to Gen. Gates and arrives at Bennington on the 

last day cf May * . , , j-^. 



^:y^ IT tvas at Jtrst intended to have published a Hit 
%f the names of the subscribers to the work ; but as-the pa^^ 
[lers are only fiariially returned, though we hear the num^ 
beri^ large^ it ivm thought beat to omit them altogether. 



IN- announcing the publication of this lit- 
tle, simple, true, and unvarnished narra- 
tive, the publishers have complied v/ith the 
wishes of a number of persons, v/ho had a 
desire to keep in remembrance the hero of 
Ticonderoga, and the exploits he performed. 
It is believed that there is not a copy for sale 
in any bookstore in the United States ; and 
the style of printing, at the time of its first 
appearance, which is now near thirty years 
since, was in so unimproved a condition, that 
it has never been seen but in the shabby 
dress of a large and ragged pam.phlet. The 
events of those '' troublous times," in 
which Col. Allen took a conspicuous part, 
are rendered doubly interesting from the 
lively, unadorned manner of his own narra- 
tion. The high compliments which he 
pays to the prowess, uniform perseverance 
and resolution, manifested by the " Green 
Mountain Boys" of his native State, v/ill no 
doubt be an inducement to them, and to his 
countrymen generally, to read and preserve 
this monument of him, and as they con the 
pages of this 'Mittle book" which he has 
*' left them," to imitate the coolness and 
courage of the deceased veteran. 



Yin ALVESTISEMENT. 

The siifFerings and cruelties borne hy him 
and his fellow soldiers, frequently draw from 
him in the course of his narrative, a lan- 
guage the most severe, with respect to a 
country from whom we originated, with 
whom we are now at peace, and with whom 
it is our policy to continue on a friendly foot- 
ing ; but the candid and the feeling mind 
should make great allov/ance for the unpar- 
alleled situation of our affairs, for the suffer- 
ings of his handful of little '^ Sparta7is,''^ for 
whom he felt a father's and a brother's affec- 
tion. These circumstances must h^ve given 
a deep colouring to the pencil whicii was 
pourtrayinghis own and his country's wrongs. 
On the whole, we think this little tract may 
be re-perused, with advantage and pleasure, 
by the aged, and read vAth much edification 
and entertainment by the young. As it is 
deemed that the very words, in every res- 
pect, made use of by the Colonel, would be 
more acceptable to the reader, than any arti- 
ficial decoration of style, we shall almost in- 
variably adhere to the original. 

The work is rendered interesting also by 
a considerable nar^ber of original, explanato- 
ry and occasional notes* 



JjYTROBUCTION, 

IA''DUCED by a se^ise of diUy to my coimiry, and by 
the afifilication of many of my worthy friends^ some uf^^hom 
are of the first characters^ I have concluded to fmbiUh the 
folloioing narrative of the extraordinary scenes of my ca/i- 
tivity, and the discoveries ivhich I made in the course of the 
sa77ie, of the cruel and relentless disposition and behavior 
cfthe enemy ^ toivards the firisonsrs in their poTjer ; from, 
which the state fiolitician^ and every gradation of charac- 
ter among the /leojhlc, to the worthy tiller cf the soil, may 
deduce such inferences as they shall think jirojier to carry 
into practice. Some men are apjioinied hitooffice, in these 
Slates^ who read the history of the cruelties of this wary 
with the same careless indifference^ as they do the pages 
pfthe Roman history ; nay^ some are preferred to places of 
trust and profit by the tory influence. The instances are 
(I hope) but rare<j and it stands all freemen in hand^ to 
prevent their farther iufuence^ which-, of all other things^ 
would be the most baneful to the liberties and happiness of 
this country ; and, so far as such influence takes place^ rob 
us of the victory we have obtained at the expense of so 
much blood and treasure** 

* The arnor patritz, which no lover of his country per- 
haps possessed in a superior degree to the writer of this 
Narrative, carries the Colonel in this instance, and in 
some others, which the reader will witness in the course 
of his perusal, a little too fir. There have, no doubt, 
been traitors amon%' us to the American cause ; but the 
word tory is of so indefinite a signification that it would 
seem it mi,^-ht be laid aside with propriety, and one, of 
mors (Jeiinite import, substituted. V/ere the colond 



X INTRODUCTION. 

/ should have exhibited to the jiuhlic a history of the facts 
herein C07itai?iedy soon after my exchange^ had not the ur- 
gency of my private affairsy together with more urgerit jiub- 
lie business^ demanded my attention^ till afenv weeks before 
the date hereof The reader will readily discern^ that a 
narrative of this sort could not have been written when I 
was a prisoner : My trunk and writings were often search- 
ed under various pretences ; so that I never wrote a syl- 
lable, or made even a rough minute whereon I might predi- 
cate this narration^^ but trusted solely to ray memory for the 
nvhole.* I have, however, taken the greatest care and 
pains to recollect the facts and arrange them : but as they 
touch a variety of characters and opposite interests, I am 
sensible that alt will not be pleased with the relation of 
thtm : Be this as it will, I have made truth my invariable 

now living, and moved by the same spirit of patriotism 
he once was, his ire would probably be directed generally 
against the enemies of America, unprincipled foreigners, 
and the desperate fugitives from justice, \yith whom 
our large seaports are infested. 

* This concession of the colonel ought not, however, 
to derogcite from the accuracy cf this account. The 
regular journalist, it is allowed, can lay claim to consider- 
able correctness in point of date and place, but the in- 
teresting occurrences of the moment are better fi^ed in 
the memory without the use of pen. The mind, which 
is accustomed to have its operations put on paper as tliey 
make their transit over it, soon loses their impression, 
under the consideration that it can always con^mand 
them again, by a recurrence to their record on paper. 
It has been thought by some, though the remark may 
be irrelevant here, that the memory is gradually aftect- 
cd, and perhaps injured by a too close attention to min- 
ute down small, uninteresting- facts. 



INTRODUCTION. Xl 

g^uide, and stake my honor on the truth of the facts. I 
have been very generous ivith the British* in giving them 
full and amfde credit for all their good usage, of any consid- 
erable consequence-i ivhich I met with among them, during 
my captivity ; ivhich was easily done, as I met with but 
little, in comparison of the bad, which, by reason of the great 
filurality of it, could not be contained i7i so concise a narra' 
live ; so that I am certain that I have more fully enumc" 
rated the favours which I received, than the abuses I suf- 
fered. The critic will be pleased to excuse any inaccura- 
cies in the performance itself, as the author has unfortun- 
ately Tnissed of a liberal education. 

JETHJJSJ- JLLEM 
Bennjnc^oi^, March 25, 1779, 

* The colonel, we presume, would wish to have ap- 
peared, and actually to have been the unprejudiced histo- 
rian of the times and facts of which he was treating. 
And, considering the ferment of the times, and warmth 
of his character, of the ardour of his friendships, and his 
enmities, we may* v/onder that lie has not been more 
severe in his strictures dli British treatment than he has. 
But justice to a nation with whom we are on friendly 
terms, and whose government generally, except where 
its edicts have been abused by executive officers, is 
conducted on the firmest basis of justice, and the rights 
of man, requires that the reader should soften, in his 
mind, the asperity of some of the veteran's obseryations. 



A 

NARRATIVE 



07 



©6?/ Othan Kytiic"^ 



en 4 



CAPTIVITY, ^c. 



E 



VER since I arrived to a state of man- 
hood, and acquainted myself with the gener- 
al history of mankind, I have felt a sincere 
passion for liberty.* The history of nations, 



* There is something peculiarly fascinating, to the 
mind of youth, ia the word liberty. It is then 

** When the fresh blood grows lively, and returns 
Brisk as the April buds in primrose season/* 

that the goddess appears decorated in her most enchant«» 
ing drapery. The horrors of tyranny then assume the 
most forbidding garb, and the heart pants eripere seep.* 
ti'inn tyrannis^ ZiTid to gh'e freedom to "oppressed hu- 
manity." It is then that tales of " knights and barons 
bold," the foes of oppression, catch the notice of youth, 

B 



14 COL. E. Allen's observations, 

doomed to perpetual slavery, in consequence 
of yielding up to tyrants their natural-born 
liberties, I read with a sort of philosophical 
horror;* so that the first systematical and 



and give it a coiTespondent ardour. As the juvenile 
heyday retreats, a more rational, but less enthusiastic 
v'ew is taken of the subject. The same love of liberty 
remains, but it rests on a surer basis, on the pedestal of 
reason. This is the chaste dame that Goldsmith in his 
Traveller alludes to, in the following extract, 

*« And thou, fair Freeelom, taught alike to feel 
The rabble's rage, and tyrant's angry steel ; 
Thou transitory flower, alike undone 
By proud Contempt, or Favour's fost'ring sun ; 
Still may thy blooms the changeful elime endure, 
I otily would repress them to secure ; 
For just experience tells, in every soil. 
That those who think must govern those who teil } 
And all that Freedom's highest aims can reach, 
Is but to lay proportion'd loads on each. 
Hence, should one order disproportion' d grovr> 
Its double weight must ruin all below." 

* It is in the recollection of most of us, how popular, 
at its commencement, was the revolution in France. A- 
mericans, who were then just beginnmg to enjoy the 
blessines of" self-government," could feel for those who 
ivere deprived of them. They made the cause their 
own Wq have Seen in what their professions of liberty 
and equality have terminated. Setting aside the views 
cf a few ambitious leaders, the love of liberty was as sm- 
cere among the great body of Frenchmen, as it was, 
perhaps, among our own countrymen. But that mtel- 
ligenc^ and information, which are diffused in this 
country, were not to be found in France. 1 he soil, it is 



DURING HIS CAPTIVITY. 15 

bloody attempt, at Lexington, to enslave A- 
merica, thoro^jghly electrified my mind, and 
fully determined me to take part with my 
country : And, while I was wishing for an 
opportunity to signalize myself in its behalf, 
directions wxre privately sent to me from the 
then colony (now state) of Connecticut, to 
raise the Green Mountain Boys, and, if possi- 
ble, with them to surprise and take the for- 
tress, Ticonderoga.* This enterprise I 



presumed, was therefore unfavorable to the cause of 
Freedom, and invited the empty claims, and Uiiurpation 
©f a despot. No doubt. Col. Allen would have vieM^ed, 
with more than " philosophical horror," the late assump- 
tion of the throne of the Bourbons, by Bonaparte, when 
comparing it with the professions of liberty with which 
it was accomplished. 

* This fortress is thus descrified in the edition of the 
American Gazetteer, by Drs. Morse and Parish : 

*' Ticonderoga, in the state of N. York, was built by the 
French in the year 1756, on the north side of a peninsu- 
la, formed by the confluence ©f the waters issuing fronn 
Lake George into Lake Champlain. It is now a heap of 
ruins, and forms an appendage to a farm. Its naine sig- 
nifies JVbisy, in the Indian language, and was called by 
the French, Corilhr. INIount Independence, in Addison 
CO. Vermont, is about two miles S. E. of it, and separated 
from it by the narrow strait which conveys the waters of 
Lake George and South river into Lake Champlain. It 
had all the advantages that art or nature could give it, 
being defended on three sides by water surrounded by 



16 eOL. E. AtLEN's OBSERVATIONS 

cheerfully undertook ; and, after first guard- 
ing all the several passes that led thither, to 
cut off all intelligence between the garrison 
and the country, made a forced march from 
Bennington, and arrived at the lake opposite 
to Ticonderoga, on the evening of the ninth 
day of May, 1775, with two hundred and 
thirty valiant Green Mountain Boys ; and it 
was with the utmost difficulty that I procured 
boats to cross the lake. However, I landed 
eighty three men near the garrison, and sent 
the boats back for the rear guard, command- 
ed by Col. Seth Warner ; but the day began 
to dav/n, and I found myself under a necessi- 
ty to attack the fort, before the rear could 
cross the lake ; and, as it v/as viewed hazard- 
ous, I hairansTied the cfiicers and soldiers in 
tlie manner iollowing : ^' Friends and fellow. 



Tocl^s, anci v/herc tKat fdls, the French erected a breasN 
v/ork nine feet hij:i;h. This v/as the first fortress attack- 
ed by the Americans daring the revohilionary war. 
The troops imclerGen. Abercrombie were defeated here 

I'd the year ITS 8, but it was taken the year following by 
GcD. Amherst. It was surprised by Cols. Alien and Ar- 
nold, May 10; 1775. and was retaken by Gen. Burgoyn.e, 
in July, 1777. 



DURING HIS cAPriviry. 17 

soldiers, You have, for a number of years 
past, been a scourge and terror to arbitrary 
power. Your valor has been famed abroad, 
and acknowledged, as appears by the advice 
and orders to me, from the General i^ssenibly 
of Connecticut, to surprise and take the gar- 
rison now before us. I now propose to ad- 
vance before you, and, in person, conduct 
you through the wicket-gate ; for we must 
this morning either quit our pretensions to 
valor, or possess ourselves of this fortress in 
a few minutes ; and, inasmuch as it is a des- 
perate attempt, vv'hich none but the bravest 
of men dare undertake, I do not urre it ou 
any contrary to his will. You that -will un- 
dertake voluntarily, poise your hrelocks/^- 



* This address, in its simple and artless clothing, af- 
fects one as much, nay, more than the studied hsr- 
^rangues of crowned conquerors. It finds its way imine- 
diately to the heart, and we anxiously look for the issue. 
Thus it v^as tint the hero of Thermopylae addressed hi.s 
litUe band, though far djiTe rent the event of the two en-; 
lerprises ; and not unlike to it was the conclusion of 
Hannibal's address to the Carthaginians, on their marck 
to the Roman capital ; " But for yoi:^ there is no mid- 
dle fortune between death and victoiy. Let thid be but 
well fixed in your minds, and once again I say you ar^ 

B 2 



18 COL. E. Allen's observatxoks 

The men being, at this time, drawn up in 
three ranks, each poised his firelock. I or- 
dered them to face to the right ; and, at the 
head of the centre-file, marched them imme- 
diately to the wicket gate aforesaid, where 
I found a sentry posted, who instantly snap- 
ped his fusee at me : I ran immediately to- 
wards him, and he retreated through the cov- 
ered way into the parade within the garrison, 
gave a halloo, and ran under a bomb-proof. 
My party, who followed me into the fort, I 
formed on the parade in such manner as to 
face the two barracks which faced each oth- 
er. The garrison being asleep, except the 
sentries, we gave three huzzas which greatly 
surprised them. One of the sentries made a 
pass at one of my officers with a charged bay- 
onet, and slightly wounded him : My first 
thought was to kill him w^ith my sword ; but, 
in an instant, I altered the design and fury of 
the blov/ to a slight cut on the side of the 
head ; upon which he dropped his gun, and 
disked quarter, which I readily granted him,^ 

* Here is a striking instance of the bravery of the 



DURIXG HIS CAPTIVITY. 19 

and demanded of him the place where the 
commanding officer kept ; he shewed me a 
pair of stairs in the front of a barrack, on the 
west part of the garrison, which led up to a 
second story in said barrack, to which I im- 
mediately repaired, and ordered the com» 
mander, Capt. Delaplace, to come forth in- 
stantly, or I would sacrifice the whole garri* 
son ; at which the Capt. came immediately 
to the door, with his breeches in his hand ; 
when I ordered him to deliver to me the 
fort instantly ; he asked me by what authori- 
ty I demanded it : I answered him, '' In the 
name of the great Jehovah, and the Continen- 
tal Congress." The authority of the Con- 
gress being very little known at that time,* 
he began to speak again ; but I interrupted 
himj and, with my drawn sword over his 

soldier, united with the humariity of the man ; in a situ- 
•tion when the destruction of one individuai of the ene- 
my might be deemed of signal consequence in ensuring 
success to the enterprise. 

* If the colonel had expressed a little of his usual se- 
rerity in this place, he might have remarked also; that 
neither of the authorities he had mentioDed were much 
known in a British camp. 



20 COL. E. Allen's observation's, 

head, again demanded an immediate surren- 
der of the garrison ; with which he then com- 
plied, and ordered his men to be forthwith 
paraded without arms, as he had given up the 
garrison : In the mean time some of my oiii- 
cers had given orders, and, in consequence 
thereof, sundry of the barrack doors were beat 
down, and about one third of the garrison im- 
prisoned, which consisted of the said com- 
mander, a Lieut. Feltham, a conductor of ar- 
tillery, a gunner, two Serjeants, and forty 
four rank and file ; about one hundred pieces 
of cannon, one thirteen inch mortar, and a 
number of swivels. This surprise was car- 
ried into execution in the gray of the morn- 
ing of the tenth day of May, 1775. The 
sun seemed to rise that morning with a supe- 
rior lustre ; and Ticonderoga and its depen- 
dencies smiled on its conquerors, who tossed 
about the flowing bowl, and wished success 
to Congress, and the liberty and freedom of 
America. Happy it was for me, at that 
tim.e, that the then future pages of the book 
of fate, which afterwards unfolded a misera- 
ble scene of two years and eight months im- 



DURING HIS CAPTIVITY. 21 

prisonment, were hid from my view. But to 
return to my narration : Col. Warner, v/ith 
the rear guard, crossed the lake, and joined 
me early in the morning, whom I sent off, 
without loss of time, with about one hun- 
dred men, to take possession of Crov/n Point, 
which was garrisoned w^ith a serjeant and 
twelve m^en ; which he took possession of the 
same day, as also of upwards of one hundred ' 
J)ieces of cannon. But one thing now remain- 
ed to be done, to make ourselves complete 
masters of lake Chamxplain ; this was to 
possess ourselves of a sloop of war, v/hich ^ 
was then lying at St. John's ; to effect which, 
it was agreed in a council of war, to arm and 
man out a certain schooner, which lay at 
South Bay, and that Capt. (now general) Ar- 
nold* should command her, and that I should 

* This name, which now calls to mind the idea of 
treason, at every mention of it, is " damn'd to everlast- 
ing fame." Arnold was once a brave officer, persever- 
in|,^, indefiligable and ready to undertake t'-e most daring 
ofenterpiises. But his high style of living inducing 
many unavoidable expenses, and the embarrassment 
thereby occasioned, prompting him to commit va-' ' 
rious acts of extortion upon the citizens of Philadelphia, 
when he was appointed to the conam.?vnd in that place, ia 



■22 COL. E. ai^len's observations, 

command the batteaux. The necessary prep- 
arations being made, we set sail from Ticon- 
deroga, in quest of the sloop, which was much 
larger, and carried more guns and heavier 
metal than the schooner. General Arnold, 
with the schooner sailing faster than the bat- 
teaux, arrived at St. John's ; and, by surprise, 
possessed himself of the sloop, before I could 
arrive with the batteaux : He also made pris- 
oners of a sergeant and twelve men, who 
were garrisoned at that place. It is worthy 
remark that, as soon as General Arnold had 
secured the prisoners on board, and had 
made preparation for sailing, the wind, which 
but a few hours before was fresh in the south, 
and well served to carry us to St. John's, now 
shifted, and came fresh from the north ; and, 
in about one hour's time, Gen. Arnold sailed 

1778, obliged Congress, on the remonstrance of some of 
the inhabitants, and of the executive of Pennsylvania, to 
have him arrested and tried by court martial. It corn- 
inenced in June 1778, and ended in Ji.n. 1779, when he 
was sentenced to be reprimanded. Tnis was the cause 
of the traitor's conduct ; and, after having offered to 
him, afterwards, the command of the left wing of the ar- 
my, he preferred that of a little, though important for- 
tress, to gratify his hate and resentment ia giving it up 
10 the enemy. 



toURING HIS CAPTIVITVi 23 

with the prize and schooner for Ticondero. 
ga.* When I met him with my party, with- 
in a few miles of St. John's, he sakitcd me 
with a discharge of cannon, which I returned 
with a volley of small arms : This being re- 
peated three times, I went on board the sloop 
with my party, where several loyal Congress 
healths were drank. We were now masters 
of lake Champkin, and the garrison de- 
pending thereon. This success I viewed of 
consequence in the scale of American poli- 
tics ; for, if a settlement, between the then 
colonies and Great -Britain, had soon taken 
place, it would have been easy to have res- 
tored these acquisitions; but viewing the 
then future consequences of a cruel war, as it 
has really proved to be, and the command of 
that lake, garrisons, artillery, 8cc. it must be 
viewed to be of signal importance to the A- 
merican cause, and it is marvellous to me, 
that we ever lost the command of it. Nothing 



* This foi'tunate, or providential change of wind, 
would have been noticed, in ancient times, as the inter- 
vention of favoring deities. As it was not one of the 
foibles of the colonel to be superstitious, he passes it over 
with saying only, *' it was worthy remark.'* 



24 col. E. alien's observations, 

but taking a Burgoyne, with a whole Brit- 
ish army, could, in my opinion, atone for it ; 
and, notwithstanding such an extraordinary 
victory, we must be ubiiged to regain the 
command of that lake again, be the cost what 
it will : By doing this, Canada will easily be 
brought into union and confederacy with 
the United States of America. Such an 
event would put it out of the power of the 
western tribes of Indians to carry on a war 
with us, and be a solid and durable bar 
against any farther inhuman barbarities com- 
mitted on our frontier inhabitants, by cruel 
and biood- thirsty savages ; for it is impossi- 
ble for them to carry on a war, except they are 
sunporled bv the trade and commerce of 
some civilized nation ; which to them would 
be impracticable, did Canada compose a part 
of the American empire.* 

Early in the fall of the year, the little army. 



* However practicable such a union might be, its pol- 
cy may be doubted. Yet in the rage for purchasiiif; cm' 
^dres ^ ii iht British would be satisfied with a rea-^onadle 
sum for it, there are probably sjieculatorsy who \YOuld 
appear to purchase it. 



DURING HIS CAPTIVITY. 25 

under the command of the Generals Schuyler 
and Montgomery, were ordered to advance 
into Canada. I was at Ticonderoga, when 
this order arrived ; and the Generals, with 
most of the field officers, requested me to at- 
tend them in the expedition ; and, though at 
that time I had no commission from Con- 
gress, yet they engaged me, that I should be 
considered as an officer, the same as though 
I had a commission ; and should, as occasion 
might require, command certain detachments 
of the army — This I considered as an honor- 
able offer, and did not hesitate to comply with 
it, and advanced with the army to the isle 
Aux Noix ;^ from whence I was ordered, by 
the general, to go in company with Major 
Brown, and certain interpreters, through the 
woods into Canada, with letters to the Cana- 
dians, and to let them know, that the design 
of the army was only against the English gar- 

* Moix^ isle au, or A'ut isle, a small isle of 5^0 acres, near 
the N. end oi lake Cliamplain, and Avithin the province 
of Lower Canada. Here the British had a g-arrison of 
100 men. It id about five mhes W. N. E. of th^ mouth 
of La Cole River, twenty i\. ox Isle L.aMotte, ana tweive 
or fifteen southward of St. Jonn's. 



26 COL. E., Allen's observations, 

risons, and not the country, their liberties, or 
religion : and having, through much danger, 
negociated this business, I returned to the isle 
Aux Noix the fore part of September, when 
Gen. Schuyler returned to Albany ; and in 
consequence the command devolved upon 
general Montgomery, whom I assisted in lay- 
ing a line of circumvallation round the for- 
tress, St. John's.* After which I w^as ordered, 
by the general, to make a second tour into 
Canada, upon nearly the same design as be- 
fore ; and withal to observe the disposition, 
desisrns and movements of the inhabitants of 
the country. This reconnoitre I undertook 
with reluctance, choosing rather to assist at 
the siege of St. John's, which was then close- 
ly invested ; but my esteem for the general's 
person, and opinion of him as a politician and 
brave officer, induced me to proceed. 

* St. Joh?2^s, a towTi and fort in Lower Canada, on 
the west bank of Sorrel river, at the north end of lake 
Champlain, twenty eight miles southward of Montreal. 
It has been established as the sole port of entry and 
clearance for all goods imported from the interior of the 
United States into Canada, by an ordinance published by 
the executive council of Lower Canada, the 7th of July, 
1796. It was taken by General Montgomery, in Nov. 
1775. North lat. 45; 9. west long, 72; 18. 



DURING HIS CAPTIVITY. 27 

I passed through all the parishes on the 
river SoiTel,-^ to a parish at the mouth of the 
same, which is called by the same name, 
preaching politics ;t and went from thence 
across the Sorrel to the river St. Lawrence, 
and up the river through the parishes to Lon- 
gueil, and so far met with good success as an 
itinerant. In this round, my guard were 
Canadians, my interpreter, and some few at- 
tendants excepted. On the morning of the 
24th day of September, I set out with my 
guard of about eighty men, from Longueil, 
to go to La Prairie ;J from whence I deter- 



* Sorrel River^ the outlet of Lake Cliai-nphdn, which, 
after a course of about 69 miles North, empties into the 
river St. Lawrence, in north lat. 46, 10, and lon^^. 72, 
25 west. Sorrel Fort,buiitby the French, is at the wes- 
tern point of the mouth of this river. 

t By politics, it is presumed, the author means eulo- 
gising the government, under which he lived ; praising 
its institutions, the saUitary and mild operation of its 
la^vs, and the degree of liberty enjoyed by the poorest o- 
his fellow citizens. In this view the occupation wa;- 
beneficial and harmless. Far different is the conduct oi 
the preacher of politics of the present day. Nis aim it 
to disorganize, and /ds efforts are exerted to sap the 
foundation of all regular government. 

I La Prairie^ ?i populous little village, with narrow 
dirty streets, on the river St. Lawrence, in Canadaj eigh- 



28 COL. I. Allen's observations, 

mined to go to Gen. Montgomery's camp ; 
but had not advanced tv/o miles before I met 
with Major Brown, who has since been ad- 
vanced to the rank of a Colonel, who desired 
me to halt, saying that he had something of 
importance to communicate to me and my 
confidants ; upon which I halted the part}^, 
and went into an house, and took a private 
room with him and several of my associates, 
where Col. Brown proposed that, '^ Provided I 
would return to Longueil, and procure some 
canoes, so as to cross the river St. lyawrence a 
little north of Montreal, he would cross it a 
little to the south of the town, with near two 
liundred men,» as he had boats sufficient ; and 
that we would make ourselves masters of 
Montreal." — This plan was readily approved 
by me and those in council ; and in conse- 
quence of Vvdiich I returned to Longueil, coL 
iected a few canoes, and added about thirty 
English Americans to my party, and crossed 
the river in the night of the 24th, agreeable 



teen miles north of St. John's^ and nine south west of 
Montreal. 



fcURll^G HIS CAPTIV^ITY. W 

to the before proposed plan. Mj whole par- 
ty, at this time, consisted of about one hun- 
dred and ten men, near eighty of whom were 
Canadians. We v/ere the most of the night 
crossing the river, as w^e had so few canoes 
that they had to pass and re-pass three times, 
to carry my party across. Soon after day-break, 
1 set a guard between me and the town, with 
special orders to let no person whatever 
pass or re-pass then}, and another guard on 
the other end of the road, witli hke directions ; 
in the mean time, I reconnoitered the best 
ground to make a defence, expecting Col. 
Brown's party w^as landed on the other side 
of the town, he having, the day before, agreed 
to give three huzzas with his men early in the 
morning, which signal I was to return, that 
we might eacli know that both parties w^ere 
landed ; but the sun, by this time, being near 
two hours high, and the sign failing, I began 
to conclude myself to be in a premunire^ and 
would have crossed the river back again, but 
I knew the enemy wouldhave discovered such 
an attempt ; and, as there could not more 

C 2 



so COL. E. ALLEN^S OBSERVATIONS, 

than one third part of my troops cross at one 
time, the other two thirds would of course 
fill into their hands. This I could not rec- 
oncile to my own feelings as a man, much 
less as an officer : I therefore concluded to 
maintain the ground, if possible, and all to 
fare alike. In consequence of this resolution, 
I dispatched two messengers, one to La Prai- 
rie, to Col. Brown, and the other to L'As- 
somption, a French settlement, to Mr. Walk- 
er, who was in our interest, requesting their 
speedy assistance, giving them, at the same 
time, to understand my critical situation : In 
the mean time, sundry persons came to my 
guards, pretending to be friends, but were by 
them taken prisoners and brought to me. — 
These I ordered to confinement,*- Hill their 
friendship could be farther confirmed ; for I 
was jealous they wxre spies, as they proved 
to be afterwards : One of the principal of 
them making his escape, exposed the weak- 

* This precaution, it appears, was cominendable and 
liecessary ; and had it been carried more rigidly into ex- 
ecution would have prevented the escape of one of the 
spies, and the miscarriage of the coleners intentions. 



DURING HIS CAPTIVITY. 31 

ness of my party, which was the final cause 
of my misfortune ; for I have been since in- 
formed that Mr. Walker, agreeable to my 
desire, exerted himself, and had raised a con- 
siderable number of men for my assistance, 
which brought him into difficulty afterwards; 
but, upon hearing of my misfortune, he dis- 
banded them asrain. 

The town of Montreal was in a great tu- 
mult. Gen. Carlton and the royal party, 
made every preparation to go on board their 
vessels of force, as I was afterwards inform- 
cd, but the spy, escaping from my guard to 
the town, occasioned an alteration in their 
policy, and emboldened Gen. Carlton to send 
the force, which he had there collected, out 
against me. I -had previously chosen my 
ground, but when I saw the number of the 
enemy, as they sallied out of the town, I per- 
ceived it would be a day of trouble, if not of 
rebuke ; but I had no chance to ilee, as Mon- 
treal was situated on an island, and the river 
St. Lawrence cut oiF my communication to 
Gen, Montgomery's camp. I encouraged 
my soldiery to bravely defend themselves. 



32 COL. E. Allen's obsiiirvationSj 

that we should soon have help, and that we 
should be able to keep the ground, if no 
more. This, and much more, I affirmed with 
the greatest seeming assurance, and which in 
reality I thought to be in some degree proba- 
ble. 

The enemy consisted of not more than for- 
ty regular troops, together with a mixed mul- 
titude, chie% Canadians, with a number of 
English who lived in the town, and some In* 
dians ; in all, to the number of near five hun- 
dred. 

The reader will notice that most of my par- 
ty were Canadians ; indeed it was a motley 
parcel of soldiery which composed both par- 
ties. However, the eriemy began the attack 
from wood-piles, ditches, buildings, and such 
like places, at a considerable distance, and I 
returned the fire from a situation more than 
equally advantageous. The attack began be- 
tween two and three of the clock in the after- 
noon, just before which I ordered a volun- 
unteer, by the name of Richard Young,* with 

* The names of these subordinate tmitors should be 



BURIN^ HIS CAPTIVITY. S3 

a detachment of nine men as a flank guard, 
which, under the cover of the bank of theriv- 
er, could not only annoy the enemy, but at the 
same time, serve as a flank guard to the left 
of the main body. 

The fire continued for some time on both 
sides ; and I was confident that such a remote 
method of attack could not carry the ground, 
provided it should be continued 'till night : 
But near half the body of the enemy began to 
fiank round to my right ; upon which I order- 
ed a volunteer, by the name of John Dugan, 
who had lived many years in Canada, and un- 
derstood the French Ian9:ua8:e, to detach about 
fifty of the Canadians, and post himself at an 
advantageous ditch, which was on my right, 
to prevent my being surrounded : He advanc- 
ed with the detachment, but, instead of occu- 
pying the post, made his escape, as did like- 
wise Mr. Young upon the left, with their de- 
tachments. I soon perceived that the enemy 
was in possession of the ground, which Du» 



handed down to posterity, in company with that of Ar- 
nold. 



34 COL, E. Allen's observations, 

gan should have occupied. At this time I 
had but about forty five men with me ; some 
of whom were wounded ; the enemy kept 
closing round me, nor was it in my power to 
prevent it ; by which means, my situation, 
which was advantageous in the first part of 
the attack, ceased to be so in the last ; and, 
being almost entirely surrounded with such 
vast unequal numbers, I ordered a retreat, but 
found that those of the enemy, who were of 
the country, and their Indians, could run as 
iiist as my men, though the regulars could 
not. Thus I retreated near a mile, and some 
of the enemy, with the savages, kept flanking 
me, and others crowded hard in the rear. In 
fine, I expected, in a very short time, to try 
the world of spirits : for I was apprehensive 
that no quarter would b(? given to me, and 
therefore had determined to sell my life as 
dear as I could. One of the enemy's officers, 
boldly pressing in the rear, discharged his fu- 
see at me ; the ball whistled near me, as did 
many others that day. I returned the salute, 
and mi sed him, as running had put us both out 
of breath ; for I conclude we w^ere not fright- 



DURING HIS CAPTIVITY. 55 

ed^ : I then saluted him with my tongue in a 
harsh manner, and told him that, inasmuch as 
his numbers were so far superior to mine, I 
w^ould surrender, provided I could be treated 
with honor, and be assured of good quarter 
for myself and the men who were with me ; 
and he answered I should ; another officer, 
coming up directly after, confirmed the trea- 
ty ; upon which I agreed to surrender with 
my party, which then consisted of thirty-one 
effective men, and seven wounded. I order- 
ed them to ground their arms, which they 
did. 

The officer I capitulated with, then direct- 
ed me and my party to advance towards him, 
which was done ; I handed him my sword, and 
in half a minute after, a savage, part of whose 
head was shaved, being almost naked and 
painted, with feathers intermixed with the 
hair of the other side of his head, came run- 
ning to me with an incredible swiftness ; he 
seemed to advance with more than mortal 



* The colonel appears to be willing to give his con- 
queror the same credit for his courage which he takes 
for himself. This is the inaication of a uoble spirit, 



36 coL.E. Allen's observations, 

■a ' 

speed ; as he approached near me, his hellish 
visage \^^as beyond all description ; snakes' 
eyes appear innocent in comparison uf his ; 
his features extorted ;^ malice, death, mur- 
der, and the wrath of devils and damned spir- 
its are the emblems of his countenance ; and, 
in less than twelve feet of me, presented his 
firelock ; at the instant of his present, I 
twitched the ofEcer, to whom I gave my 
sword, between me and the savage ; but he 
flew round with great fury, trying to single 
me out to shoot me without killing the officer ; 
but by this time I was near as nimble as he, 
keeping the officer in such a position that his 
danger was my defence; but, in less than 
half a minute, I was attacked by just such 
another imp of hell : Then I made the officer 
fly around with incredible velocity, for a few 
seconds of time, when I perceived a Canadi- 
an, who had lost one ey€, as appeared after- 
wards, taking my part against the savages ; 
and in an instant an Irishman came to my as« 



* Probably meant to be distorted ; though, from the 
description it would appear that his visage had been eX' 
tortcd from some " Gorgon or chim<jsra dire>'l 



DURING HIS CAPTIVITY. 37 

sistance with a fixed bayonet, and drove away 
the fiends, swearing by Jasiis he would kill 
them. This tragic scene composed my 
mind. The escaping from so awful a death, 
made even imprisonment happy ; the more so 
as my conquerors on the field treated me 
with great civility and politeness. 

The regular officers said that they v/trc 
very happy to see Col. Allen : I answered 
them, that I should rather chose to have seen 
them at Gen. Montgomery's camp. The 
gentlemen replied, that they gave full credit 
to what I said, and, as I walked to the town, 
which was, as I should guess, more than two. 
miles, a British officer walking at my right 
hand, and one of the French noblesse at my 
left ; the latter of which, in the action, had 
his eyebrow carried away by a glancing shot, 
but was nevertheless very merry and face- 
tious, and no abuse was offisred me 'till I 
came to the barrack-yard, at Montreal, where 
I met general Prescott, who asked me my 
name, which I told him : He then asked me, 

D 



38 COL. £. Allen's osservations, 

wliether I was that Col. Allen, who took Ti- 
conderoga. I told him I was the very man : 
Then he shook his cane over my head, call- 
ing many hard names, among which he fre- 
quently used the word rebel, and put himself 
in a great rage. I told him he would do well 
not to cane me, for I was not accustomed to 
it, and shook my fist at him, telling him that 
was the beetle of mortality for him, if he of- 
fered to strike y^ upon which Capt. M'Cloud 
of the British, pulled him by the skirt, and 
whispered to him, as he afterwards told me, 
to this import ; that it was inconsistent with 
Ills honor to strike a prisoner. He then or- 
dered a sergeant's command with fixed bay- 
onets to come forward, and kill thirteen Cana- 
dians, which were included in the treaty afore- 
said. 

It cut mc to the heart to see the Canadians 
in so hard a case, in consequence ©t their 
having been true to me ; they were wringing 



* The intrepidity of Col. Allen, it seems, did not for- 
sake him even in captivity ; nor could he repress the 
^arinp^ness of his spirit, even at the moment of danger. 



DURING HIS CAPnVITY. 59 

their hands, saying their prayers, as I con- 
duded, and expected immediate death. I 
therefore stepped between the executioners 
and the Canadians, opened my clothes, and 
told Gen. Prescott to thrust his bayonet into 
my breast, for I was the sole cause of the Ca- 
nadians taking up arms. 

The guard, in the mean time, rolling their 
eye-balls from the General to me, as though 
impatiently waiting his dread commands to 
sheath their bayonets in my heart ; I could 
however plainly discern, that he was in a sus- 
pense and quandary about the matter : This 
gave me additional hopes of succeeding ; for 
my design was not to die, but save the Can- 
adians by a finesse. The general stood a 
minute, when he made me the following re- 
ply ; *^ I w^ill not execute you now ; but you 
shall grace a halter at Tyburn, God damn 
you."* 



* This harsh reply and resolve, it seems, had less of 
grace, ihsiii comfort to the hero. Language like this is 
said to be common in the field ; but fi^om one officer to 
another, when one is prisoner to the other, is indefensi- 
ble. The real hero fights for victory, and not for the op- 



40 COL. E. Allen's observations, 

I remember I disdainecl his mentioning 
such a place ; I was, notwithstanding, a lit- 
tle pleased with the expression,^ as it signifi- 
cantly conveyed to me the idea of postponing 
the present appearance of death ; besides his 
sentence was by no means final, as to ** grac- 
ing a halter, although I had anxiety about it 
after I landed in England, as the reader will 
find in the course of this history. Gen. Pres- 
cott then ordered one of his officers to take me 
onboard the Gaspee schooner of war, and 
confine me, hands and feet, in irons, which 
v/as done the same afternoon I was taken. 

The action continued an hour and three 
quarters, by the watch, and I know not to 
this day how many of my men were killed, 
though I am certain there were but few ! if I 
remember right, seven were wounded ; one 
of them, William Stewart, by name, was 

portunity of exercising a talent of Billingsgate, at which 
the meanest soldier in his army is his superior. 

* This is giving the reader no very favorable idea of 
the eligibility of the hero's situation. If a halter at a 
distance could shed over his mind a ray of comfort, de- 
plorable, indeed, must have been his fortime at that 
ti,me. 



BURING KIS CAFTIVITY. ^i i 

v/ounded by a savage with a toinahaAvk, after 
he was taken prisoner and disarmed, but vras 
rescued by some of the generous enemy ; 
and so far recovered of his woilnds, that he 
afterwards went v/ith the other prisoners to 
England. 

Of the enemy were killed, a major Garden, 
who had been v/ounded in eleven dilTerent 
battles, and an eminent merchant, Patterson, 
of Montreal, and some others, but I never 
knew their whole loss, as their accounts were 
difTerent. I am apprehensive that it is rare, 
that so much ammunition was expended, and 
SO little execution done by it ; though such 
of my party as stood the ground, behaved 
with great fortitude, much exceeding that of 
the enemy, but were not the best of marks- 
men, and, I am apprehensive, v/ere all killed 
or taken; the wounded v/ere all put into the 
hospital at Montreal, and those that were not, 
were put on board of different vessels in the 
river, and shackled together by pairs, viz, 
two men fVistened tosrether bv one hand-cuff, 
being closely fixed to one ^vrist of each cf 

D 2 



42 COL. E. Allen's observations, 

them, and treated with the greatest seventy, 
nav as criminals. 

I now come to the description of the irons, 
which were put on me : The hand-cuiF was 
of a common size, and form, but my leg irons, 
I should imagine, would weigh thirty pounds ; 
the bar was eight feet long, and very sub- 
stantial ; the shackles, which encompassed 
my ancles, were very tight. I was told by the 
officer, who put them on, that it was the king's 
plate, and I heard other of their officers say, 
that it would weigh forty weight. The irons 
were so close upon my ancles, that I could 
not lie down in any other manner than on my 
back. I was put into the lowest and most 
wretched part of the vessel, where I got the 
favor of a chest to sit on ; the same answer- 
ed for my bed at night ; and having procur- 
ed some little blocks of the guard, who day 
and night, with fixed bayonets, watched over 
me, to lie under each end of the large bar of 
my leg irons, to preserve my ancles from gall- 
ing, while I sat on the chest, or lay back on 
the same, though most of the time, night and 
day, I sat on it *, but at length, having a de- 



' DURING HIS CAPTIVITY. 43 

sire to lie down on my side, which the close- 
ness of the irons forbid, I desired the captain 
to loosen them for that purpose ; but was de- 
nied the favor :* The Captain's name was 
Royal, who did not seem to be an ill-natured 
man ; but oftentimes said, that his express 
orders were to treat me with such severity, 
which was disagreeable to his own feelings ; 
nor did he ever insult me, though many oth- 
ers, who came on board, did. One of the offi- 
cers, by the name of Bradley, was very gener- 
ous to me ; he would often. send me victuals 
from his own table ; nor did a day fail, but 
that he sent me a good drink of grog.f 

The reader is now invited back to the time 
I was put into irons. I requested the privi- 
lege to write to Gen. Prescott, which was 



* The reader will call to mind the merciless manacles 
and cruel trapping- s of Trenk. The colonel's sufferings 
however could not be compared, in point of severity, with 
'those of the unhappy prisoner of Magdeburg. 

t This little fa vour, though scarcely of more value 
than a " cup of water,*' has "met its reward" in the 
gra,teful mention which the hero makes of it in this 
NARRATIVE. All the return which the obliged could 
make for this simple benefaction is in conveying the 
name of the generous donor to those of posterity who 
may chance to peruse this effusion of his gratitude. 



44 COL. E. Allen's osservations, 

granted. I reminded him of the kind and 
generous manner of my treatment of the pris- 
oners I took at Ticonderoga ; the injustice 
and ungentleman-like usage, which I had met 
with from him, and demanded gentleman-like 
usage, but received no answer from him.. I 
soon after wrote to Gen. Carlton, which met 
the same success. In the mean while many 
of those who w^ere permitted to see me, were 
very insulting. 

I was confined in the manner I have related, 
on board the Gaspee schooner, about six 
weeks ; during?: which time I was oblii^ed to 
throw out plenty of extravagant language, 
which answered certain purposes, at that time, 
better than to grace a history. 

To give an instance upon being insulted, in 
a fit of anger I twisted off a nail with my 
teeth, which I took to be a ten-penny 
nail ; it went through the mortise of the bar 
of my hand- cuff, and at the same time I swag- 
gered over those who abused me ; particu- 
larly a Doctor Dace, who told me that I was 
outlawed by New- York, and deserved death 
for several years past ; was at last fully ripen- 



DURING HIS CAPTIVITY. 45 

cd for the halter, and in a fair way to obtain 
it : When I challenged him, he excused him- 
self in consequence, as he said, of my being 
a criminal ; but I flung such a flood of lan- 
guage at him that it shocked him and the 
spectators, for my anger was very great. I 
heard one say, damn him, can he eat iron ? Af- 
ter that a small padlock was fixed to the hand- 
cuff, instead of the nail ; and as they were 
mean-spirited in their treatment to me, so it 
appeared to me, that they were equally tim- 
orous and cowardly.* 

I was after sent with the prisoners taken 
with me to an armed vessel in the river, 
which lay off against Quebec, under the com- 
mand of Capt. M'Cloud, of the British, who 
treated me in a very generous and obliging 
manner, and according to my rank ; in about 
twenty-four hours I bid him farewel v/ith re* 



* The reader may, perhaps, excuse the timidity of 
the spectators at Avitnessing this extraordinary feat of 
the colonel ; as it might reasonably be supposed to ex- 
cite astonishment and terror ; £ind we may pardon Dr. 
Dace for shewing any reluctance to engage with a pa- 
tient of so potent a digestion as he must have supposed 
him to be, if he could " eat iron." 



46 COL. E. Allen's observations, 

gret ; but my good fortune still continued ; 
The name of the Capt. of the vessel I was put 
on board, was Littlejohn ; who, with his ofii- 
cers,behaved in a polite, generous, and friend- 
ly manner. I lived with them in the cabin, 
and fared on the best, my irons being taken 
oif, contrary to the order he had received from 
the commanding officer ; but Capt. Little- 
john swore, that a brave man should not be 
used as a rascal, on board his ship. 

Thus I found myself in possession of hap- 
piness once more, and the evils, I had lately 
suffered, gave me an uncommon relish for it. 

Capt. Littlejohn used to go to Quebec al- 
most every day, in order to pay his respects 
to certain gentlemen and ladies ; being there 
on a certain day, he happened to meet with 
some disagreeable treatment, as he imagined, 
from a Lieut, of a man of war, and one word, 
brought on another, 'till the Lieut, challeng- 
ed him to a duel on the plains of Abraham. 
Capt. Littlejohn was a gentleman, who en- 
tertained a high sense of honor, and could do 
no less than accept the challenge. 

At nine o'clock the next morning they were 



DURING HIS CAPTIVITY. 47 

to fight. The Capt. returned in the evening, 
and acquainted his Lieut, and me with the 
affair : His Lieut, was a high blooded Scotch- 
man as well as himself, who replied to his 
Capt. that he should not want for a second. 
With this I interrupted him and gave the 
Capt. to understand that, since an opportuni- 
ty had presented, I would be gl^d to testify 
my gratitude to him, by acting the part of a 
faithful second, on which he gave me his 
hand, and said that he wanted no better man. 
Says he, I am a King's officer, and you a 
prisoner under my care ; you must therefore 
go wdth me to the place appointed in disguise, 
and added farther ; <* You must engage me, 
upon the honor of a gentleman, that, whether 
I die or live, or whatever happens, provided 
you live, that you will return to my Lieut, on 
board this ship." All this I solemnly engag- 
ed him. The combatants were to discharge 
each a pocket pistol, and then to fall on with 
their iron-hilted muckle whangers ; and one 
of that sort was allotted for me ; but some 
British officers, who interposed early iu the 



48 COL. E. Allen's observations, 

morning, settled the controversy without 
lighting. 

Now having enjo3^ed eight or nine days' 
happiness, from the polite and generous treat- 
ment of Capt. Littlejohn and his ofRcers, I 
w^as obliged to bid them farewxl, parting with 
them in as friendly a manner as we had lived 
together, vdiich, to the best of my memory, 
was the elevendi of November : When a de- 
tachment of Gen. Arnold's little army appear- 
ed on point Levy,'^ opposite Quebec, w^ho 
had performed an extraordinary march 
through a wilderness country, with design to 
have surprized the capital of Canada ; I was 
then taken on board a vessel called the 
Adamant, together with the prisoners taken 
w^ith me, and put under the povv^er of an Eng- 
lish merchant from London, whose namic was 
Brook Watson : a man of malicious and cruel 
disposition, and who was probably excited, 
in the exercise of his malevolence, by a junto 
of tories, w^ho sailed with him to England ; 



* Xf-W, a point of land in the river St. Lawrence, op- 
posite to the city of Quebec, 



DURING HIS CAPTIVITY. 49 

among whom were Col. Guy Johnson, Col. 
Closs, and their attendants and associates, to 
the number of about thirty. 

All the ship's crew, Col. Closs, in his per- 
sonal behavior excepted, behaved towards 
the prisoners with that spirit of bitterness, 
Vv'hich is the peculiar characteristic of to- 
ries, when they have the friends of Amer- 
ica in their power, measuring their loy- 
alty to the English King by the barbarity, 
fraud, and deceit which they exercise towards 
the whigs. 

A small place in the vessel, enclosed with 
white-oak plank, was assigned for the prison- 
ers, and for me among the rest. I should 
imagine that it was not more than twenty 
feet one way, and twenty two the other : In- 
to this place we were all, to the number of 
thirty four, thrust and hand-cufied, two pris- 
oners more being added to our number, and 
v/ere provided with two excrement tubs ; in 
this circumference we were obliged to eat and 
perform the offices of evacuation, during the 
voyage to England ; and were insulted by ev* 

E 



50 COL. E. ALLEN S OBSERVATIONS 



cry black-guard sailor and tory on board, in 
the cruellest manner ; but what is the most 
surprizing is, that not one of us died in the 
passage. When I was first ordered to go 
into the filthy enclosure, through a small sort 
of dooi, I positively refused, and endeavour- 
ed to reason the before named Brook Watson 
out of a conduct so derogatory to every senti- 
ment of honor and humanity, but all to no 
purpose, my men being forced in the den al- 
ready ; and the rascal who had the charge of 
the prisoners commanded me to go immedi- 
ately in among the rest : He farther added 
that the place was good enough for a rebel ; 
that it was impertinent for a capital offender 
to talk of honor or humanity ; that any thing 
short of a halter, was too good for me ; and 
that that would be my portion soon after I 
landed in England ; for which purpose only 
I was sent thither. About the same time a 
Lieut, among the tories, insulted me in a 
grievous manner, saying that I ought to have 
been executed for my rebellion against New- 
York, and spit in my face ; upon which, 
though I v/as hand-cuffed, I sprang at him 



DURING HIS CAPTIVITY. 51 

with both hands, and knocked him partly 
down, but he scrambled along into the cabin, 
and I after him ; there he got under the pro- 
tection of some men with fixed bavonets, who 
were ordered to make ready to drive me in- 
to the place aforementioned. I challenged 
him to fight, notwithstanding the impedi- 
ments that v/ere on mv hands, and had the 
exalted plcabiiie to see the rascal tremble for 
fear ; his name I have forgot, but Watson 
ordered his guard to get me into the place 
with the other prisoners, dead or alive ; and 
I had almost as lieve die as do it, standing 
it out till they environed me round with bay- 
onets ; and brutish, prejudiced, abandoned 
wretches they were, from whom I could ex- 
pect nothing but death or woynds : Howev- 
er, I told them, that they were good honest 
fellows ; that I could not blame them ; that 
I was only in a dispute v/ith a calicoe mer- 
chant, who knew not how to behave towards 
a gentleman of the military establishment. 
This was spoke rather to appease them for 
my ovvm preservation, as well as to treat Wat- 
son with contempt ; but still I found that 



52 COL. E. Allen's observations, 

they were determined to force me into the 
wretched circumstaRces, which their preju- 
diced, and depraved minds had prepared for 
me ; Therefore, rather than die, I submitted 
to their indignities, being drove widi bayon- 
ets into the filthy dungeon, with the other 
prisoners, where we were denied fresh water, 
except a small ailow^ance, which was very in- 
adequate to our wants ; and, 1:1 consequence 
of the stench of the place, each of us was soon 
followed with a diarrhoea and fever, which oc- 
casioned an intolerable thirst. When we 
asked for water, w^e were, most commonly, 
instead of obtaining it, insulted and derided ; 
and, to add to all the horrors of the place, it 
was so dark that we could not see each oth- 
er, and were overspread with body lice. We 
had, notwithstanding these severities, full al- 
lowance of salt provisions, and a gill of rum 
per day ; the latter of which was of the utmost 
service to us, and, probably, was the means of 
saving several of our lives. About forty 
days we existed in this manner, when the 
land's end of England was discovered from 
the mast head ; soon after which the prison- 



DURING HIS CAPTIVITY. 53 

ers were taken from their gloomy abode, be- 
ing permitted to see the light of the sun, and 
breathe fresh air, which to us was very re- 
freshing. The day foUoVvdng we landed at 
Falmouth.* 

A few days before I was taken prisoner, I 
shifted my clothes, by which I happened to 
be taken in a Can2.dian dress, viz. a short 
fawn skin jacket, double breasted, an under- 
vest and breeches of sagathy, worsted stock- 
ings, a decent pair of shoes, two plain shirts, 
and a red worsted cap : This was all the 
clothing I had, in which I made my appear- 
ance in England. 

When the prisoners were landed, multi- 
tudes of the citizens of Falmouth, excited by 

* This description of the sufTerings of CoL Allen in- 
duces one to execrate the perpetrators. Such cruelties 
are fit only for the vilest of criminals. The brave should 
respect the brave. But, in all offices, there maybe found 
individuals who dishonor their stations. We are un- 
willing to believe that such treatment ought to stigma- 
tize a whole nation generally ; the power of these offi- 
cers was abused ; and we see Man 

" Dress'd in a little brief authority, 
Commit such vile offence against high Heaveiij 
As make the angels weep.'* 



54 COL. E. Allen's observations, 

curiosity, crowded together to see us, which 
was equally gratifying to us. I saw numbers 
of people on the tops of houses, and the ris- 
ing adjacent grounds were covered with them 
of both sexes : The throng was so great, that 
the King's officers were obliged to draw their 
swords, and force a passage to Pendennis 
castle, which was near a mile from the town, 
where we were closely confined, in conse- 
quence of orders from Gen. Carlton, who 
then commanded in Canada. 

The rascally Brook Watson then set out 
for London in great haste, expecting the re- 
ward of his zeal ; but the ministry received 
him, as I have been since informed, rather 
coolly ; for the minority in parliament took 
advantage, arguing that the opposition of A- 
merica to Great Britain, vv^as not a rebellion : 
If it is, say they, why do you not execute 
Col. Allen, according to law? but the major- 
ity argued, that I ought to be executed, and 
that the opposition was really a rebellion, but 
that policy obliged them not to do it, inas- 
much as the Congress had then most prison- 
ers in their power ; so that my being sent to 



DURING HIS CAPTIVITY. 5 



c 



England, for the purpose of being executed, 
and necessity restraining them, was rather afoil 
on their laws and authority, and they conse- 
quently disapproved of my being sent thith- 
er : But I never had heard the least hint 
of those debates, in parliament, or of the 
working of their policy, till some time after 
I left England. 

Consequently the reader will readily con- 
ceive I was anxious about my preservation, 
knowing that I was in the power of a haughty 
and cruel nation, considered as such. There- 
fore, the first proposition which I determined 
in my own mind was, that humanity and 
moral suasion would not be consulted in the 
determining of my fate ; and those that dai- 
ly came in great numbers, out of curiosi- 
ty, to see me, both gentle and simple, united 
in this, that I would be hanged. A gentle- 
man from iVmerica, by the name of Temple,* 
and who was friendly to me,, just whispered 

* The colonel, we think, would have done well to have 
been a little more careful in preserving- the christian 
nauies of his occasional benefactors ; as the historian is 
better pleased in recording one act of such generosity 
than twenty instances of abuse. 



56 COL. E. Allen's observations, 

me in the ear, and told me, that bets were 
laid m London, that I would be executed ; he 
likewise privately gave rne a guinea, but 
durst say but little to me. 

However, ag-reeable to iiiv first nesrative 
proposition, that moral virtue would not in- 
fluence my destiny, I had recourse to strata- 
gem, which I was in hopes would move in 
the circle of their policy. I requested of the 
commander of the castle the privilege of writ- 
ing to Congress, who, after consulting with 
an oflicer that lived in town, of a superior 
rank, permitted me to write. I wrote, in the 
fore part of the letter, a short narrative of my 
ill treatment ; but withal let them know that, 
though I was treated as a criminal in Eng- 
land, and continued in irons, together with 
those taken with me, yet it was in conse- 
quence of the orders which the commander 
of the castle received from General Carlton ; - 
and therefore desired Congress to desist from 
matters of retaliation, till they should know 
the result of the government in England, res- 
pecting their treatment towards me, and the 
prisoners v/ith me, and govern themselves 



DURING HIS CAPriVITY, 57 

accordingly, with a particular request, that if 
retaliation should be found necessary, it might 
be exercised not according to the smallness 
of my character in America, but in proportion 
to the importance of the cause for which I 
suffered — This is, according to m.y present 
recollection, the substance of the letter, in- 
scribed, To the illustrious Continental Congress, 
This letter was wrote with a view that it 
should be sent to the ministry at London, 
rather than to Congress, with a design to in- 
timidate the haughty English government, 
and screen my neck from the halter. 

The next day the officer, from whom I ob- 
tained licence to write, came to see me, and 
frowned on me on account of the impudence 
of the letter, as he phrased it, and farther add- 
ed, " Do you think that we are fools in Eng- 
land, and would send your letter to Congress, 
with instructions to retaliate on our own peo- 
ple ? I have sent your letter to Lord North." 
This gave me inward satisfaction, though I 
carefully concealed it with a pretended resent- 
ment, for I found I had come Yankee over 
him, and that the letter had gone to the iden- 



KP, 



COL. E. ALLEN S OBSERVATIONS, 



tical person I designed it for. Nor do I 
know, to this day, but that it had the desired 
effect, though I have not heard any thing of 
the letter since. 

My personal treatment by Lieut. Hamilton, 
who commanded the castle, was very gener- 
ous. He sent me every day a fine breakfast 
and dinner from his own table, and a bottle of 
good wine. Another aged gentleman, whose 
name I cannot recollect, sent i'ne a good sup- 
per : But there was no distinction in public 
support betvveen me and the privates ; we 
all lodged on a sort of Dutch bunks, in one 
common apartment, and were allowed straw. 
The privates were well supplied with fresh 
provision, and with me, took effectual meas- 
ures to rid ourselves of lice. 

I c6uld not but feel, inwardly, extremely 
anxious for my fate. This I however con- 
cealed from the prisoners, as well as from the 
enemy, who Vv^ere perpetually shaking the 
halter at me. I nevertheless treated them 
with scorn and contempt : and, having sent 
my letter to the ministry, could conceive of 
nothing more in my power but to keep up 



BURING HIS CAPTIVITY. 59 

my spirits, behave in a daring, soldier-like 
manner, that I might exhibit a good sample 
of American fortitude.* Such a conduct, I 
judged, would have a more probable tenden- 
cy to my preservation than concession and 
timidity. This, therefore, \vs,s my deport- 
ment ; and I had lastly determined, in my 
own mind, that if a cruel death must inevita- 
bly be my portion, I would face it undaunt- 
ed ; and, though I greatly rejoice that I have 
returned to my country and friends, and to 
see the pov/er and pride of Great Britain 
humbled ; vet I am confident I could then 
have died without the least appearance of 
dismay. 

I now clearly recollect that my mind was 
so resolved, that I would not have trembled 
or shewn the least fear, as I was sensible it 
could not alter my fate, nor do more than re- 



* The British must doubtless have had a high idea of 
the personal prowess of Col. Aliv-^n ; ar-.d however supe- 
rior their regular discipline might liave appeared in 
their own eyes, yet they could not but respect the cour- 
age of an enemy. To this intrepid spirit, and to the es- 
teem it must have excited, the colonel probably owes 
his complimentary meals, and his daily bottle of wine. 



60 COL. E. alien's observations, 

proach my memory, make my last act despi- 
cable to my enemies, and eclipse the other 
actions of my life. For I reasoned thus, that 
nothing was more common than for men to 
die with their friends around them, weeping 
and lamenting over them, but not able to 
help them, which was in reality not difierent 
in the consequence of it from such a death as 
I was apprehensive of ; and, as death was the 
natural consequence of animal life to which 
the laws of nature subject mankind, to be 
timorous and uneasy as to the event or man- 
ner of it, was inconsistent with the character 
of a philosopher or soldier. The cause I was 
engaged in, I ever viewed worthy hazarding 
my life for, nor was I, in the most critical mo- 
ments of trouble, sorry that I engaged in it ; 
and, as to the world of spirits, though I knew 
nothing of the mode or manner of it, I ex- 
pected nevertheless, when I should arrive at 
such a world, that I should be as well treated 
as other gentlemen of my merit. 

Among the great numbers of people, who 
came to the castle to see the prisoners, some 
gentlemen told me, that they had come fifty 



©UlliNG HIS CAPTIVITY. 61 

Jniles on purpose to see me, and desired to 
ask me a number of questions, and to make 
free with me in conversation. I gave for an- 
swer, that I chose freedom in every sense of 
the word : Then one of them asked me what 
my occupation in life had been ? I answered 
him, that in my younger days I had studied 
divinity, but was a conjurer by profession. 
He replied, that I conjured wrong at the time 
that I was taken ; and I was obliged to own, 
that I mistook a figure at that time, but that 
I had conjured them out of Ticonderoga.. 
This was a place of great notoriety in Eng- 
land, so that the joke seemed to go in my fa- 
vour. 

It was a common thing for me to be taken 
out of close confinement, into a spacious gtecn 
in the castle, or rather parade, w^here num- 
bers of gentlemen and ladies v/ere ready to 
see and hear me. I often entertained such 
audiences with harrangues on the impractica- 
bility of Great Britain's conquering the then 
colonies of America. At one of these ihiies 
I asked a gentleman for a bowl of punch, and 

he ordered his servant to brinq; it^ which he 

F 



62 COL. E. Allen's observations, 

did, and oliered it to me, but I refused to 
take it from the hand of his servant ; he then 
gave it to me with his own hand, refusing to 
drink with me in consequence of my being a 
state criminal : However, I took the punch 
and drank it all down at one draught, and 
handed the gentleman the bowl : This made 
the spectators as well as myself merry.* 

I expatiated on American freedom : This 
gained the resentment of a young beardless 
gentleman of the company,! who gave him- 
self very great airs, and replied, that he 
*' knew the Americans very wxll, and was 
certain that they could not bear the smell of 
powder. I replied, that I accepted it is a 
challenge, and was ready to convince him on 
the spot, that an Am.erican could bear the 
smell of powder ; at which he answered that 
he shouldnotput himself on a par with me. 



* Those, who are acquainted with the exhilarating ef- 
fect of this delicious beverage, can easily give credit to 
this assertion of our hero. 

t Probably some London cockney. There are peo- 
ple of this description in all countries, rejidy to mock at 
iiiisfortunej md insult the wretched. 



DURING HIS CAPTIVITY. 63 

I then demanded of him to treat the charact- 
er of the Americans with due respect. He 
answered that I was an Irishman ; but I as- 
sured him, that I was a full blooded Yankee, 
and, in fine, bantered him so much, that he 
left me in possession of the ground, and the 
lau gh went against him. Two clergymen 
came to see me, and, inasmuch as they be- 
haved with civility, I returned them the 
same : We discoursed on several parts of 
moral philosophy and Christianity; and they 
seemed to be surprised, that I should be ac- 
quainted with such topics, or that I should 
understand a syllogism, or regular mode of 
argumentation. I am apprehensive my Ca- 
nadian dress contributed not a little to the 
surprise, and excitement of curiosity : to see 
a gentleman in England, regularly dressed 
and well behaved, would be no sight at all ; 
but such a rebel, as they were pleased to call 
me, it is probable, was never before seen in 
England. 

The prisoners were landed at Falmouth a 
few days before Christmas, and ordered on 
board of the Solebay frigate, Capt. Syrnonds, 



64 COL. E. Allen's observatioiVs, 

the eighth day of January, 1776, when our 
hand irons were taken off. This remove 
was in consequence, as I have been since in- 
formed, of a writ of habeas corpus, which 
had been procured by some gentlemen in 
England, in order to obtain me my liberty. 

I'he Solebay, widi sundry other men of 
war, and ^ibout forty transports, rendezvous- 
ed at the cove of Cork in Ireland, to take in 
provision and water. 

When we were first brought on board, 
Capt. Symonds ordered all the prisoners, 
and most of the hands on board, to go on the 
deck, and caused to be read, in their hearing, 
a certain code of lav/s, or rules for the regu- 
lation and ordering of their behavior ; and 
then, in a sovereign manner, ordered the pris- 
oners, me in particular, off the deck, and 
never to come on it again ; for, said he, this 
is a place for gentlemen to walk. So I 
went off, an officer following me, who told 
me, that he would shew me the place allotted 
for me, and took me down to the cable 
tire, saying to me, this is your place. 
Prior to this I had taken coldj by which I 



, DURING HIS CAPTIVITY. 65 

was in an ill state of health, and did not say 
much to the officer ; but stayed there that 
night, consulted my policy, and found I was 
in an evil case ; that a Capt. of a man of war 
was more arbitrary than a King, as he could 
view his territory with a look of his eye, and 
a movement of his finger commanded obedi- 
ence. I felt myself more desponding than I 
had done at any time before ; for I concluded 
it to be a governmental scheme, to do that 
clandestinely v/hich policy forbid to be done 
under sanction of public justice and lav/.^'^- 

However, two days after I shaved and 
cleansedmyself as well as I could, and went 
on deck. The Capt. spoke to me in a great 
rage, and said, " Did I not order you not to 
come on deck ?" I answered him, that at the 
same time he said, ^* That it was the place 
for gentlemen to walk ; that I was Col. Al- 
len, but had not heen properly introduced to 
him." He replied, " G-d damn you, Sir, be 
careful not to walk the same side of the deck 



* The colonel, smarting under such treatment, may 
be excused, in some measure, for wishing to confound 
the abuse of officers with that of the government. 

F 2 



65 COL. E. Allen's observations, 

that I do.'* This gave me encourage ment, 
and ever after that I v/alked in the manner he 
had directed, except when he, at certain times 
afterwards, ordered me off in a passion, and 
I then w^ould directly afterwards go on again, 
telling him to command his slaves ; that I 
was a gentleman, and had a right to walk the 
deck ; yet when he expressly ordered me off, 
I obeyed, not out of obedience to him, but to 
set an example to his ship's crew, who ought 
to obey him. 

To walk to the windward side of the deck 
is, according to custom, the prerogative of the 
Capt. of the man of war, though he, often- 
times, nay commonly, walks with his lieuten- 
ants, when no strangers are by : When a 
Capt. from some other man of war, comes on. 
board, the Capts. walk to the windward side, 
and the other gentlemen to the leeward. 

It was but a few nights I lodged in the ca- 
ble tire, beWe I gained an acquaintance 
with the master of arms ; his name was Gil- 
legan, an Irishman, vdio was a generous and 
well disposed man, and, in a friendly manner 
made me an offer of living with him in a little 



DURING HIS CAPTIVITY. 67 

birth, which was allotted him between decks, 
and enclosed with canvas ; his preferment on 
board v/as about equal to that of a sergeant in 
a regiment. I was comparatively happy in 
the acceptance of his clemency, and lived 
with him in friendship, till the frigate an- 
chored in the harbor of cape Fear, North-Car- 
olina, in America. 

■» 

Nothing of material consequence happened 
till the fleet rendezvoused at the cove of Cork, 
except a violent storm which brought old 
hardy sailors to their prayers. It v/as soon 
rumoured in Cork that I was on board the 
Solebay, with a number of prisoners from A- 
merica ; upon which Messrs. Clark and Hays, 
merchants in company, and a number of oth- 
er benevolently disposed gentlemen, contrib- 
uted largely to the relief and support of the 
prisoners, who were thirty-four in number, 
and in very needy circumstances. A suit of 
clothes from head to foot, including an over 
coat, or surtout, and two shirts, were bestow- 
ed on each of them. My suit I received in 
superfine broadcloths, sufficient for two jack- 
ets, and two pair of breeches overplus of a 



6S COL. E. Allen's observations, 

suit througlioutj eight fine Holland shirts 
and stocks ready made, with a number of 
pairs of silk and worsted hose, two pair of 
shoes, two beaver hats, one of which was 
sent me richly laced with gold, by Mr. James 
Bonwell. The Irish gentlemen furthermore 
made a large gratuity of wines of the best 
sort, old spirits, Geneva, loaf and brown su- 
gar, coiTee, tea and chocolate, with a large 
round of pickled beef, and a number of fat 
turkies, with many other articles, for my sea 
stores, too tedious to mention here. To the 
privates they bestowed on each man two 
pounds of tea, and six pounds of brown su- 
gar. These articles were received on board, 
at a time when the Capt. and first Lieut, were 
gone on shore, by permission of the second 
Lieut, a handsome young gentleman, who 
was then under twenty years of age ; his 
name was Douglass, the son of Admiral 
Douglass, as I was informed. 

As this munificence was so unexpected 
and plentiful, I may add needful, it impressed 
on my mind the highest sense of gratitude to- 
wards my benefactors ; for I was not only 



©URING KIS CAPTIVITY, 6P 

supplied with the necessaries and convenien- 
ces of life, but with the grandeurs and super- 
fluities of it. Mr. Hays, one of the dona- 
tors before mentioned, came on board, and 
behaved in the most obliging manner, telling 
me, that he hoped my troubles were past ; 
for that the gentlemen of Cork determined to 
make my sea-stores equal to those of the Capt^ 
of the Solebay's ; he made an oiFer of live stock 
and wherewith to support them; but I knew this 
would be denied : And to crown all, did send 
to me by another person lifty guineas, but I 
could not reconcile receiving the whole to 
my owa feelings, as it might have the appear- 
ance of avarice ; and therefore received but 
seven guineas only ; and am confident, not 
only from the exercise of the present w^elt- 
timed generosity, but from a large acquaint- 
ance with gentlemen of this nation, that as a 
people they excel in liberality and bravery.^ 



* This tribute to the generosity of the Irish charac- 
ter is well merited. Except among the lowest and most 
ignorant, hospitality and generosity are proverbial ; and 
though a degree of ridicvile is cast over the national 
character, by applying to them the commission of most 
of the bvMs which are current among us, yet the well 



70 COL. E. Allen's observations, 

Tv^o days after the receipt of the aforesaid 
donations, Capt. Symonds came on board, full 
of envy towards the prisoners, and swore by 
all that is good, that the damned American 
rebels should not be feasted at this rate, by 
the damned rebels of Ireland ; he therefore 
took away all my liquors before -mentioned, 
except some of the wine which was secreted, 
and a two gallon jug of old spirits which was 
reserved for me, per favour of Lieut. Doug- 
lass. The taking of my liquors Vv-as abomin- 
able in his sight ; he therefore spoke in my 
behalf, till the Capt. was angry with him ; 
and, in consequence, proceeded and took 
away all the tea and sugar, Vvdiich had been 
given to t]ie prisoners, and confiscated it to 
the use of the ship's crew. Our clothing was 
not taken away, but the privates were forced 
to do duty on board. Soon after this there 
came a boat to the side of the ship, and Capt. 
Symonds asked a gentleman who v/as in it, 
in my hearing, what his business was? who 



informed of all countries do them justice by allowing 
that they do not fall short of other nations, in literary, 
philosophical and other attainments. 



DURING HIS CAPTIVITY. 71 

answered that he was sent to deliver some 
sea-stores to Col. Allen, which, if I remem- 
ber right, he said were sent from Dublin ; but 
the Capt. damned him very heartily, ordered 
him away from the ship, and would not suffer 
him to deliver the stores. 1 was farthermore 
informed, that the gentlemen in Cork re- 
quested of Capt. Symonds, that I might be 
allowed to come into the city, and that they 
would be responsible I should return to the 
frigate at a given time, wiiich was denied 
them. 

We sailed from England the 8th day of 
January, and from the cove of Cork the 12th 
day of February. Just before we sailed, the 
prisoners with me were divided, and put on 
board three different ships of war. This gave 
me some uneasiness, for they were to a man 
zealous in the cause of liberty, and behaved 
with a becoming fortitude in the various 
scenes of their captivity ; but those, who 
were distributed on board other ships of w^ar, 
■were much better used than those who tarri- 
ed with me, as appeared afterwards. V/hen 
the fleet, consisting of about forty five sail, in- 



72 COL. E. ALLEN'S OBSERVATIONS, 

eluding five men of war, sailed from the cove 
with a fresh breeze, tjie appearance was beau- 
tiful, abstracted from the unjust and bloody 
designs they had in view. We had not sail- 
ed many days, before a mighty storm arose, 
which lasted near twenty-four hours without 
intermission : The wind blew with relentless 
fury, and no man could remain on deck, ex- 
cept he w^as lashed fast, for the waves rolled 
over the deck by turns, with a forcible rapid- 
ity and every soul on board was anxious for 
thepreservationof the ship, alias their lives. 
In this storm the Thunder-bomb man of war 
sprang a leak, and was afterwards floated to 
some part of the coast of England, and the 
crew saved. We were then said to be in the 
bay of Biscay. After the storm abated, I 
could plainly discern that the prisoners were 
better used for some considerable time.* 



* The cause of the alternation is left to conjecture. 
Probably, however, it was from compunction for the 
unwarrantable severity inflicted on the prisoners, and 
their alarm, during the storm, might have made them 
apprehensive that this war of the elements was occasion- 
ed by the displeasure of the Deity. Imminent danger 
would have a tendency to relax the iron hand of oppres- 



DURING HIS CAPTIVITV. 75 

Nothing of consequence happened after 
this, till we had sailed to the island of Ma- 
deira, except a certain favour which I receiv- 
ed of Capt. Symonds, in consequence of an 
application I made to him, for the privilege 
of his tailor to make me a suit of clothes of 
the cloth bestowed on mc in Ireland, which 
he generously granted. I could then walk 
the deck with a seeming better grace. When 
we had reached Madeira, and anchored, sun- 
dr}^ gentlemen with the Capt. went on shore, 
who IiDonclude gave the rumor that I was in 
the frigate ; upon which I soon after found 
Irish generosity was again excited ; for a 
gentleman of the nation sent his clerk on 
board, to know of me if I v^^ould accept a sea- 
store from him, particularly of wine. This 
matter I made known to the generous Lieut. 
Douglass, who readily granted me the favor, 
provided the articles could be brc .ght on 
board, during the time of his command ; ad- 
ding that it would be a pleasure to him to serve 

sion, when the breast is othenvise steeled agahist en- 
Ueaties, or a view of the excess of human suft'ering. 

G 



74 eoL. E. Allen's observations, 

me, notwithstanding the opposition he met 
with before : So I directed the gentleman's 
clerk to inform him, that I was greatly in need 
of so signal a charity, and desired the young 
gentleman to make the utmost dispatch, which 
he'did ; but, in the mean time, Capt. Sy- 
monds and his officers came on board, and 
immediately made ready for sailing ; the 
wind at the same time being fair, set sail 
when the young gentleman was in fair sight 
with the aforesaid store. "^ 

The reader will doubtless recollect the sev- 
en guineas I received at the cove of Cork : 
These enabled me to purchase of the purser 
what I wanted, had not the Capt. strictly for- 
bidden it, though I made sundry applications 
to him for that purpose ; but his answ^er to 
me, when I was sick, was, that it was no mat- 
ter how soon I was dead, and that he was 
no ways anxious to preserve the lives of reb- 
els, but wished them all dead ; and indeed 



* This will remind the classical reader of the story of 
Tantalus. The deprivation, however, nivist have been 
more severely felt by Col. Allen, in the same proportioii 
that wine is more palatable than water. 



BURING HIS CAPTIVITY. 75 

that was the language of most of the ship's 
crew. I expostulated not only with the 
Capt. but Y/ith other gentlemen on board, on 
the unreasonablerress of such usage ; infer- 
ring that, inasmuch as the government in 
England did not proceed against me as a 
capital offender, they should not ; for that 
they were by no means empowered by any 
authority, either civil or military, to do so ; 
for the English government had acquitted me 
by sending me back a 'prisoner of war to A- 
merica, and that they should treat me as such. 
I farther drev/ an inference of impolicy on 
them, provided they should, by hard usage, 
destroy my life ; inasmuch as I might, if liv- 
ing, redeem^pne of their officers ; but the 
Capt. replied, that he needed no directions of 
mine how to treat a rebel ; that the British 
w^ould conquer the American rebels, hang the 
Congress, and such as prom_oted thf rebel- 
lion, me in particular, and retake their own 
prisoners ; so that my life was of .no conse- 
quence in the scale of their policy. I gave 
him for answer, that if they stayed till they 
conquered America, before they hanged me. 



76 COL. E. Allen's observations, 

/ should die of old age, and desired that till 
such an event took place, he would at least 
allow me to purchase of the purser, for my 
own money, such articles as I greatly need- 
ed ; but he would not permit it, and when I 
reminded him of the generous and civil us- 
age that their prisoners in captivity in Amer- 
ica met with, he said that it was not owing to 
their goodness, but to their timidity ; for, 
said he, they expect to be conquered, and 
therefore dare not misuse our prisoners ; and 
in fact, this was the language of the British 
oflicers, till Gen. Burgoyne was taken ;■* hap- 

* It was the plan of the British generals, to push a 
body of troops from New -York, to join general Bur- 
goyne at Albany, and by estabiishmg a Ime of British 
posts on the Hudson, to intercept the intercourse be- 
tween the New-Eng-land and southern states. While 
general Burgoyne was attempting to advance towards 
Albany, General Clinton with a force of three thousand 
men took possession of fort Montgomery, after severe 
loss. General V'aughan, with a body of troops, on board 
of armed ships sailed, up the Hudson, as far as Livings- 
ton's manor, where he landed a party, burnt a large 
house belonging to one of the family ; then sent a party 
to the opposite shore and laid in ashes the town of Kings- 
ton. But general Burgoyne, despairing of the junction 
between his army and the division from New-York, sur- 
rounded by a superior army, and unable to retreat, con- 
sented to capitulate, and on the 1 7th of October, sm> 



DURING h:3 captivity. 77 



py event ! and not only uf the officers, but 
of the whole British army. I appeal to ail 
my brother prisoners, who have been with 
the British in tlic southern department, for a 
confirmation of what 1 have advanced on this 
subject. The curgeoii of the Sclebay, 
whose nam?, irj North, was a very humane 
obliging man, and took the best care of the 
prisoners who w^re sick. 

The thii-d dTf cf May we cast ancor in 
€iz harbor of Cape Fear,^^ in North- Caroli- 
na, as did Sir Peter P.rker's ship, of fifty 
^mns, a little back of the bar ; for there v/as 
no depth c? water x*jr him to come into the 
harbour : These two men of war, and four- 



rendered to the American general. The detachmen': 
under general Vaiig'ivdn returned to New-York and the 
plan of the British commanders was totally frustrated. 

[ Webster's Elements. 

* Cape Fear, is the southern point of Smith's Island 
which divides the mouth of Cape Fear river into tv.o 
channels, on the coast of North-Carolina ; S. W. of 
Cape Look Out, and remarkable for a dangerous shoal 
called the Frying Pa:-:, from its form. A light house 
stands at the mouih of the river. It bears W.N. W. 
from the point of the Cape, four miles distant. Near 
this cape is Johnson's Fort, in Brunswick county, and 
district of Wilmington. North latitude 33, 32 — west 
longitude 78, 25. [Morse's Gazeteer. 

G 2 



r. xt' 



78 COL. E. ALLEN'S OBSERVATIONS, 

teen sail of transports and others, came after, 
so that most of the fleet rendezvoused at 
cape Fear, for three weeks. The soldiers on 
board the transports were sickly ^ in conse- 
quence of so long a pr.3sage ; add to this, 
the small pox carried off many of them : 
They landed on the niain, and formed a camp; 
bul; the riflemen annoyed them, and caused 
tl.em to move to an island in the harbour ; 
but such cursing of riflemen I never heard. 
A detachment of regulars w^as sent up 
Brunswick river ; as they landed, they were 
fired on by those marksmen, and they came 
back next day damning the rebels for their 
unmanly v/ay of fighting, and swearing that 
they would give no quarter, fer they took 
sight at them, and were behind timber, skulk- 
ing about. One of ths detachments said 
they lost one man ; but a negro man who 
was with them, and heard what was said soon 
after told me that he helped to bury thirty- 
one of them : This did me some good to find 
my countrymen giving them battle ; for I 
never heard such swaggering as among Gen. 
Clinton's little army, who uommaaded at that 



DURING HIS CAPTIVITY. 79 

time ; and I am apt to think there were four 
thousand men, though not tv/o thirds of them 
fit ±ov duty. 1 heard numbers of them say, 
that the trees in Amer.c^ should hai.tr well 
with ir^ii that campai^^n for they would give 
110 qua.xr : This was in the ir.ouths of most 
who I hear! speak en th : :ubj:ct, officer as 
well as sxdkr. I wished at tl :.t time my 
country msn knew, as well as I diJ, what a 
murderirg and cruel enemy d\tj had to deal 
wit]: ; but experience has blnce taught this 
country, what they aret^ expeet a: the hands 
of Britons when in their power* 

The prisoners, who had been sent on' board 
different men cf war at the cove of Cork, 
were collected toretLer, and the whole of 
them put on board the Mercury frigate, Capt. 
James Monta^;ue, except one of the Canadi- 
ans, who died on the passaee from Ireland, 
and Peter Noble, who made his escape from 
the Sphynx maa of war in this harbour, and, 
hj extraordinary swimming, got safe home to 
New- Engl-' lid, and gave intelligence of the 
usage of his brother prisoners. The Mer- 
cury set sail from this port for Halifax, about 



80 COL. E. ALLEN-'S OBSERVATIONS, 

the 20th of Maj^ and Sir Pc'Cr Parker was 
about to sail with the land f ..rces, under the 
command of Gen. Clinton, f^ the reduction 
of Charleston, the capital cf South-Carolina, 
andwh Ti I heard t^f his defeit in Halifax, it 
gave me inexpressible satisfaction. 

I new iciund myself under a worse Capt. 
than Svmcnds ; for Montague was loaded 
with ;"rejud*:ccs against every body, and ev- 
ery thin^' t 'lat w':'.s not stamped with roy:Ity ; 
and, being by nature underwitted, his wrath 
was heavier tlian the ot:iers, or at least his 
mind was in no instrincc liable to be divened 
by f>;ood sense, hunicur or bra.very, of which 
Symonds was by turns susceptible. A Capt. 
Francis Proctor was added to our number of 
prisoners when we were fxrst put on board 
this ship : This gentleman had formerly be- 
longed to the English service. The Capt. 
and, in line, a! J l' :: gentlemen of the ship, 
were very much incensed against him, and 
put him in irons without the least provoca- 
tion, and he was continued in this miserable 
situation about three mcnths. In this pas- 
sage the prijoriers were infected with the 



DURING HIS CAPTIVITY, 81 

scurvy, some more and some less, but most 
of them severely. The ship's crew was to a 
great degree troubled with it, and I conclud- 
ed that it was catching : Several of the crev/ 
died with it on their passage. I was weak 
and feeble in consequence of so long and 
cruel a captivity, yet had but little of the 
scurvv. 

The purser was again expressly forbid by 
the Capt. to let me have any thing out of his 
store ; upon which I went on deck, and, in 
the handsomest manner requested the favour 
of purchasing a few necessaries of the purser, 
which was denied me ; he farther told me, 
that I should be hanged as soon as I arrived 
at Halifax. I tried to reason the matter with 
him, but found him proof against reason ; I 
also held up his honor to view, and his be- 
havior to me and the prisoners in general, as 
being derogatory to it, but found his honor 
impenetrable. I then endeavored to touch 
his humanity, but found he had none ; for 
his prepossession of bigotry to his own party, 
had confirmed him in an opinion, that no hu- 
manity was due to unroyalists, but seemed 



82 COL. E. Allen's observations, 

to think that heaven and earth were made 
merely to gratify the King and his creatures ; 
he uttered considerable unintellis-ible and 
grovelling ideas, a little tinctured with Mon- 
archy, but stood well to his text of hanging 
me. He afterv/ards forbade his surgeon to 
administer any help to the sick prisoners.^ 
I was every night shut down in the cable tire, 
with the rest of the prisoners, and we all liv- 
ed miserribly while under his pov/er : But I 
received some scenerositv from several of the 
midshipmen, who in degree alleviated my 
misery ; one of their Denies was Putrass, the 
names cf the others I do not recollect ; but 
they v/ere obliged to be private in the bestow- 
ment of their favour, which was sometimes 
good wine bitters; and at others, a generous 
drink of grog. 

Some time in the first week of June, we 
came to anchor at the Hook off New- York, 



* This, if Col. Allen >vas not under a mistake, must 
have been tliC acme of inhumanity. For tlie honour of 
human nature, we trust it is. He must be a monster, 
indeed, who could issue commands of so brutal a nature. 



DURING HIS CAPTIVITY. 85 

where we remained but three days ; in which 
time Gov. Tryoa, Mr. Kemp, the old attor- 
ney Gen. of Nev/-York, and several other 
perfidious and over- grown tories and land- 
jobbers, came on board. Tryon viewed me 
with a stern countenance, as I was walking 
on the leeward side of the deck, with the 
midshipmen ; and he and his companions 
were walking Vv^ith the Capt. and Lieut, on 
the windward side of the same, but never 
spoke to me, though it is altogether probable 
that he thought of the old quarrel between 
him, the old government of New- York and 
the Green Mountain Boys : Then they went 
with the Capt. into the cabin, and the same 
afternoon "returned on board a vessel which 
lay near the Hook, where at that time they 
took sanctuary from the resentment of their 
injured country. What passed between the 
officers of the ship and these visitors I know 
not ; but this I know, that my treatment 
from the principal officers was more severe 
afterwards. 

We arrived at Halifax not far from the 
middle of June, where the ship's crew, which 



84 COL. E. Allen's observations 



was infested with the scurvy, were taken on 
shore, and shallow trenches dug, into which 
they were put, and partly covered with earth. 
Indeed every proper measure was taken for 
their relief : The prisoners were not per- 
tnitted any sort of medicine, but were put on 
board a sloop which lay in the harbour, near 
the town of Halifax, surrounded with several 
men of war and their tenders, and a guard 
constantly set over them, night and day. The 
sloop we had wholly to ourselves, except 
the guard, who occupied the forecastle ; here 
we w^ere cruelly pinched with hunger; it 
seemed to me that we had not more than one 
third of the common allowance : We were 
all seized w^ith violent hunger and faintness ; 
we divided our scanty allowance as exact as 
possible. I shared the same fate with the 
rest, and, though they offered me more than 
an even share, I refused to accept it, as it was 
a time of substantial distress, which in my 
opinion I ought to partake equally with the 
rest, and set an example of virtue and forti- 
tude to our little commonwealth. 



Turing his captivity. 85 

I sent letter after letter to Capt. Montague, 
who still had the care of us, and also to his 
Lieutenant, whose name I cannot call to 
mind, but could obtain no answer, much 
less a redress of grievances ; and, to add to 
the calamity, near a dozen of the prisoners 
were dangerously ill of the scurvy. I wrote 
private letters to the doctors, to procure, if 
possible, some remedy for the sick, but in 
vain. The chief physician came by in a 
boat, so close that the oars touched the sloop 
We were in, and I uttered my complaint in the 
genteelest manner to him, but he never so 
much as turned his head, or made me anv 
answer, though I continued speaking till he 
got out of hearing. Oar caiise then became 
very deplorable. Still I kept wTiting to the 
Captain, till he ordered the guards, as they 
told me, not to bring any more letters from 
me to him. In the mean time an event hap- 
pened worth relating : One of the men, al- 
most dead of the scurvy, lay by the side of 
the sloop, and, a canoe of Indians coming by, 
he purchased two quarts of strawberriesj and 

H 



86 COL. £. ALLEN'S OBSERVATIONS, 

ate them at once, and it almost cured him. 
The money he gave for them, was all the 
money he had in the world. After that we 
tried every way to procure more of that fruit, 
reasoning from analogy that they might have 
the same effect on others infested with the 
same disease, but could obtain none.* 

Meanwhile the Doctor's mate of the Mer- 
cury came privately on board the prison sloop, 
and presented me with a large vial of smart 
drops, which proved to be good for the scur- 
vy, though vegetables and some other ingre- 
dients were requisite for a cure ; but the 
drops gave at least a check to the disease : 
This was a well-timed exertion of humanity, 
but the doctor's name has slipped my mind, 
and, in m^y opinion, it was the means of sav- 
ing the lives of several men. 

The guard, which was set over us, was by 
this time touched with the feelings of com- 
passion ; and I finally trusted one of them 
with a letter of complaint to Governor Ar- 



* The acid of any other vegetable, possessing it in an 
equal degree, and taken in the same quantity, would 
perhaps have h^d the same curative effect. 



DURING HIS CAPTIVITY. 87 

buthnot, of Halifax, which he found means to 
communicate, and which had the desired ef- 
fect ; for the Governor sent an officer and 
surgeon on board the prison sloop, to know 
the truth of the complaint. The officer's 
name was Russel, who held the rank of Lieut, 
and treated me in a friendly and polite man- 
ner, and was really angry at the cruel and 
unmanly usage the prisoners met w^ith ; and, 
with the surgeon, made a true report of mat- 
ters to Gov. Arbuthnot, who, either by his 
order or influence, took us next day from the 
prison sloop to Halifax gaol, where I first be- 
came acquainted with the now Hon. James 
Lovel, Esq. one of the members of Congress 
for the State of Massachusetts-Bay. The 
sick were taken to the hospital, and the Cana- 
dians, who were effective, were employed in 
the King's works ; and when their country- 
men were recovered from the scurvv and 
joined them, they all deserted the King's em- 
ploy, and were not heard of at Halifax, as 
long as the remainder of the prisoners contin- 
ued there, which was till near the middle of 
October. We wxre on board the prison- 



I 



88 COL. E. Allen's observations, 

^sloop about six weeks, and were landed at 
Halifax near the middle of August. Several 
of our English American prisoners, who 
were cured of the scurvy at the hospital, 
made their escape from thence, and after a 
long time reached their old habitations. 

I had now but thirteen with me, of those 
who were taken in Canada, and remained in 
gaol with me in Halifax, who, in addition to 
those that were imprisoned before, made our 
number about thirty four, who were all lock- 
ed up in one common large room, without re- 
gard to rank, education, or any other accom- 
plishment, where we continued from the set- 
ting to the rising sun ; and, as sundry of 
them were infected with the gaol and other 
distempers, the furniture of this spacious 
room consisted principally of excrement tubs. 
We petitioned for a removal of the sick into 
the hospitals, but were denied. We remon- 
strated against the ungenerous usage of be- 
ing confined with the privates, as being co^i- 
trary to the laws and customs of nations, and 
particularly ungrateful in them, in coiise- 
queiice of the gentleman-like usage which 



DURING. HIS CAPTIVITY. 89 

the British imprisoned ofRcers met with in 
America ; and thus we wearied ourselves, pe- 
titioning and remonstrating, but to no pur- 
pose at all ; for Gen. Massey, who command- 
ed at Haliflix, was as inflexible as the Devil 
himself, a fine preparative this for Mr. Lovel, 
member of the Continental Congress. 

Lieut. Russel, whom I have mentioned be- 
fore, came to visit me in prison, and assured, 
me that he had done his utmost to procure 
my parole for enlargement ; at wliich a Brit- 
ish Captain, who was then the town-major, 
expressed compassion for the gentlemen 
confined in the filthy place, and assured me 
that he had used his influence to procure 
their enlargement ; his name was near like 
Ramsay. Among the prisoners there v/ere 
five in number, who had a legal claim to a pa- 
role, viz, James Lovel, Esq. Capt. Francis 
Proctor, a Mr. Howland, master of a Conti- 
nental armed vessel, a Mr. Taylor, his mate 
and mvself. 

As to the article of provision, we were v/ell 
served, much better than in any part of mv 

H 2 ' 



00 COL. E. alien's observations, 

captivity ; and, since it was Mr. LovePs mis- 
fortune and mine to be prisoners, and in so 
wretched circumstances, I Vv^as happy that wc 
were together as a mutual support to each 
other, and to the unfortunate prisoners with 
lis. Our first attention was the preservation 
of ourselves and injured little republic y the 
rest of our time we devoted interchangeably 
to politics and philosophy, as patience was a 
needful exercise in so evil a situation, but 
contentment mean and impracticable. 

I had not been in this gaol many days, be- 
fore a worthy and charitable woman, Mrs. 
Blacden, byname, supplied me with a good 
dinner of fresh meats every day, with garden 
fruit, and sometimes whh a bottle of wine ; 
notwithstanding which I had not been more 
than three weeks in this place, before I lost 
all appetite to the most delicious food, by 
the gaol distemper, as also did sundry of the 
t prisoners, particularly a sergeant Moore, a 
: man of courage and fidelity : I have several 
times seen him hold the boatswain of the 
: Solebay frigate, when he attempted to strike 



DURING HIS CAPTIVITY. 91 

him, and laughed him out of conceit of using 
him as a slave. 

A doctor visited the sick, and did the best, 
as I suppose, he could for them, to no ap- 
parent purpose. I grew weaker and weaker, 
as did the rest. Several of them could not 
help themselves. At last I reasoned in my 
own mind, that raw onion would be good : I 
made use of it, and found immediate relief 
by it, as did the sick in general, particularly 
sergeant Moore, whom it recovered almost 
from the shades ; though I had met with a 
little revival, still I found the malignant 
hand of Britain had greatly reduced my con- 
stitution with stroke upon stroke. Esquire 
Lovel and myself used every argument and 
entreatv that could be well conceived of, in 
order to obtain gentlemanlike usage, to no 
purpose. I then wrote Gen. Massey as se- 
vere a letter as I possibly could, with my 
friend LovePs assistance : The contents of 
it was to give the British, as a nation, and 
him as an individual, their true character. 
This roused the rascal, for he could not bear 
to see his and the nation's deformity in that 



92 eoL. E. Allen's observations, 

transparent letter,* which I sent him ; he 
therefore put himself in a great rage about 
it, and shewed the letier to a number of Brit- 
ish officers, particukuiy to Capt. Smith of the 
Lark frigate, who, instead of joining with 
him in disapprobation, commended the spirit 
of it; upon which Gen. Massey said to him, 
do you take the part of a rebel against me ? 
Capt. Smith answered, that he rather spoke 
his sentiments, and there vv^as a dissension in 
opinion between them. Some officers took 
the part of the General, and others of the 
Captain : This I was informed of by a gentle- 
man who had it from Capt. Smith. 

In a few days after this, the prisoners were 
ordered to go on board of a man of war, 
which was bound for New- York ; but two 
of them were not able to go on board, and 
w^ere left at Halifax ; one died, and the other 
recovered. This was about the 12th of Oc- 



* We can easily excuse, if excuse be necessary, this 
conduct of the oppressed prisoner. After having tried 
persuasion, entreaty and every mild mean to have his 
condition ameliorated, the last resource seemingly was 
to pourtray his sufferings, and the abuse and cruelty 
which he had experienced in the most lively colours pes* 
sible. 



DtTRING HIS CAPTIVITY. 93 

tober, and soon after we had got on boaixl, 
the Captain sent for me in particular to come 
on the quarter deck : I went, not knowing 
that it was Capt. Smith, or his ship at that 
time, and expected to n^eet the same rigor- 
ous usage I had commonly met with, and 
prepared my mind accordingly ; but when I 
came on deck, the Captain met me with his 
hand, welcomed me to his ship, invited me to 
dine with him that day, and assured me that 
I should be treated as a gentleman, and that 
he had given orders, that I should be treated 
with respect by the ship's crew. This was 
§o unexpected and sudden a transition, that 
it drew tears from my eyes, which all the 
ill usage I had before met with, was not able 
to produce, nor could I at first hardly speak, 
but soon recovered myself and expressed 
my gratitude for so unexpected a favour ; 
and let him know that I felt anxiety of mind 
in reflecting that his situation and mine was 
such, that it was not probable that it would 
ever be in my power to return the favour. 
Capt. Smith replied, that he had no reward 
in view, but only treated me as a gentleman 



94 COL. E. Allen's observations,' 

ougHt to be treated ; he said this is a muta- 
ble world, and one gentleman never knows 
but that it may be in his power to help anoth- 
er. Soon after I found this to be the same 
Capt. Smith who took my part against Gen. 
Massey ; but he never mentioned any thing 
of it to me, and I thought it impolite in me 
to interrogate him, as to any disputes which 
might have arisen between him and the Gen- 
eral on my account, as I v^as a prisoner, and 
that it was at his option to make free with 
me on that subject, if he pleased ; and, if he 
did not, I might take it for granted that it 
would be unpleasing for me to query about 
it, though I had a strong propensity to con- 
verse with him on that subject. 

I dined with the Captain agreeable to his 
invitation, and oftentimes with the Lieuten- 
ant, in the gun room, but in general ate and 
drank with my friend Lovel and the other 
gentlemen, who were prisoners with me, 
where I also slept. 

We had a little birth enclosed with canvas, 
between decks, where we enjoyed ourselves 
very v\^ell, in hopes of an exchange ; besides, 



DURING HIS CAPTIVITY. 95 

our friends at Halifax had a little notice of 
our departure, and supplied us with spirituous 
liquor, and many articles of provision for the 
cost. Capt. Burk, having been taken pris- 
oner, was added to our company, (he ha.d 
commanded an American armed vessel) and 
was generously treated by the Captain and all 
the officers of the ship, as well as myself. We 
now had in all near thirty prisoners on board, 
and as we were sailing along the coast, if I 
recollect right, off Rhode-Island, Capt. Burk, 
with an under officer of the ship, whose name 
I do not recollect, came to our little birth, pro- 
posed to kill Capt. Smith and the principal 
officers of the frigate and take it ; adding 
that there were thirty five thousand pounds 
sterling in the same. Capt. Burk likewise 
averred that a strong party out of the ship's 
crew was in the conspiracy, and urged me, 
and the gentleman that was with me, to use 
our influence with the private prisoners, to 
execute the design, and take the ship with 
the cash into one of our own ports. 

Upon which I replied, that we had been too 
well used on board to murder the officers ; 



96 COL. E. Allen's observations, 

that I could by no means reconcile it to my 
conscience, and that in fact it should not be 
done ; and, while I was yet speaking, my 
friend Lovel confirmed what I had said, and 
farther pointed out the ungratefulness of 
such an act ; that it did not fail short of mur- 
der, and in fine all the gentlemen in the birth 
opposed Capt. Burk and his colleague : But 
they strenuously urged that the conspiracy 
w^ould be found out, and that it would cost 
them their lives, provided they did not exe- 
cute their design. I then interposed spirit- 
edly, and put an end to farther argument on 
the subject, and told them that they might de- 
pend upon it, upon my honor, that I would 
faithfully guard Capt. Smith's life : If they 
should attempt the assault, I would assist 
him, for they desired me to remain neuter, 
and that the same honor that guarded Capt. 
Smith's life, would also guard theirs ; and it 
v/as agreed by those present not to reveal the 
conspiracy, to the intent that no man should 
be put to death, in consequence of what had 
been projected; and Capt. Burk and his col- 
league went to stifle the matter among 



DURING HIS CAPTIVITY. 97 

their associates. I could not help calhng to 
mind what Capt. Smith said to me, when I 
first came on board : '* This is a mutable 
world, and one gentleman never knows but 
that it may be in his power to help another."^ 
Captain Smith and his officers still behaved 
with their usual courtesy, and I never heard 
any more of the conspiracy. 

We arrived before New- York, and cast an- 
chor the latter part of October where we re- 
mained several days, and where Capt. Smith 
informed me, that he had recommended m.e 
to Adm. Howe and Gen. Sir Wm. Howe, as 
a gentleman of honor and veracity, and desir- 
ed that I might be treated as such. Capt. 
Burk was then ordered on board a prison-ship 
in the harbor. I took my leave of Capt. 
Smith, and, with the other prisoners, was 



* A memorable instance this of the value of a gener- 
ous action. Had the conduct of Capt. Smith equalled 
in atrocity and cruelty that of Capt. Simonds of the Sole- 
bay, it is not impossible that Coi. Allen, goaded by his 
repeated abuse, might have consented to the killing of 
the ship's crew. In this instance the pious reader will 
discern tiie hand of an overruling providence, who, even 
in this life, frequently extends to the doer of a good ac- 
tion its appropriate reward. 

I 



98 cot. E. Allen's observations, 

sent on board a transport- ship, which lay in 
the harbour, commanded by Capt. Craige, 
who took me into the cabin with him and his 
Lieut. I fared as thev did, and was in eve- 
ly respect well treated, in consequence of di- 
rections from Capt. Smith. In a few weeks 
after this I had the happiness to part with my 
friend Lovel, for his sake, whom the enemy af- 
fected to treat as a private ; he was a gentle- 
man of merit, and liberally educated, but had 
no commission ; they maligned him on ac- 
count of his unshaken attachment to the cause 
of his country. He was exchanged for a 
Gov. Phillip Skene of the British. I was 
continued in this ship till the latter part of 
November, where I contracted an acquaint- 
ance with the Cc pt, of the British ; his name 
has slipped my memory. He was what we 
may call a genteel hearty fellow. I remem- 
ber an expression of his over a bottle of w^ine, 
to this import : '^ That there is greatness of 
soul for personal friendship to subsist between 
you and me, as we are upon opposite sides, 
and may at another day be obliged to face 
each otlier in the field." I am confident that 



DURING HIS CAPTIVITY. 99 

he was as faithful as any officer in the Brit- 
ish army. At ailother sitting he oftercd to 
bet a dozen of wine, that fort Washington 
would be in the hands of the British in tliree 
days. I stood the htt, and would, had I 
known that that would have been the case, 
and the third day afterwards we heard a pro- 
digious hea\^y cannonade, and that day the 
fort v/as taken sure enough. Some months 
after, when I was on parole, he called upon 
me with his usual humour, and mentioned 
the bet. I acknow ledged I had lost it, but 
he said he did not m ean to take it then, as I 
was a prisoner ; that he would another day 
call on me, when their army came to Ben- 
nington. I replied, that he was quite too 
generous, as I had fairly lost it : besides, the. 
Grt^en Mountain Boys would not suffer them 
to come to Bennington. This was all in good 
humour. I should have been glad to have 
seen him after the defeat at Bennington, but 
did not. It was customary for a guard to 
attend the prisoners, which was often chang- 
ed. One was composed of tories fi'om Con- 
necticut, in the vicinity of Fairfield and Gi'een 



100 COL. E. Allen's observations, 

Farms. The sergeant's name was Hoit. 
They were very full of their invectives a- 
gainst the country, swaggered of their loyalty 
to their king, and exclaimed bitterly against 
the '' cowardly yankies," as they were pleas- 
ed to term them, but finally contented them- 
selves with saying that, when the country 
was overcome, they should be well reward- 
ed for their loyalty, out of the estates of the 
v/higs, which w^ould be confiscated. This I 
found to be the general language of tories, 
after I arrived from England on the Ameri- 
can coast. I heard sundry of them relate, 
that the British Generals had engaged them 
an ample rev/ard for all their losses, disap- 
pointments and expenditures, out of the for- 
feited rebels' estates. This language early 
taught me what to do v/ith tories' estates, as 
far as my influence can go. For it is really 
a game of hazard between v/hig and tory : 
The whigs must inevitably have lost ail, in 
consequence of the abilities of the tories, 
and their good friends, the British ; and it is 
no more than right the tories should run the 
same risk, in consequence of the abilities 



DURING HIS CAPTIVITY. 101 

of the whigs : But of this more will be ob- 
served m the sequel of this narrative. 

Some of the last days of November, the 
prisoners were landed at New- York, and I 
was admitted to parole with the other offi- 
cers, viz. Procter, Rowland and Taylor. — 
The privates were put into the filthy church- 
es in New- York, with the distressed prison- 
ers that were taken at fort Washington ; and 
the second night, sergeant Roger Moore, 
who was bold and enterprizing, found means 
to make his escape with every of the remain- 
ing, prisoners that were taken with me, ex- 
cept three, who were soon after exchanged : 
So that, out of thirty-one prisoners, who went 
with me the round exhibited in these sheets, 
two only died with the enemy, and three on- 
ly were exchanged ; one of whom died after 
he came within our lines ; all the rest, at dif- 
ferent times, made their escape from the en- 
emy.^ 



* The siiffermi^s of our hero, during his captivity, 
though perhaps the consequence of his own rasluiess, 
were brought about by an ardent zeal in the cause of lib- 

I ^ 



102 COL. E. Allen's observations, 

I now foiiiad myself on parole, and restrict- 
ed to the limits of the city of New- York, 
where I soon projected means to live in some 
measure agreeable to my rank, though I was 
destitute of cash. My constitution was al- 
most worn out by such a long and barbar- 
ous captivity. The enemy gave out that I 
H'cis crazy, and wholly unmanned, but my 
vitals held sound, nor was I delirious any 
more than I have been from youth up ; but 
my extreme circumstances, at certain times, 
rendered it political to act in some measure 
the madman ; and, in consequence of a regu- ' 
t lar diet and exercise, my blood recruited, and 
my nerves in a great measure recovered their 
former tone, strength and usefulness, in the 
course of six months. 

I next invite the reader to a retrospective 
sight and consideration of the doleful scene 
of inhumanity, exercised by Gen. Sir Will- 
iam Howe, and the army under his command, 

erty, -vvhich -made him -willing to run hazards which cir- 
cumstances would hardly justify. Had this not been 
the case, he would probably have never been carried a 
prisoner to England. i 



DURING HIS CAPTIVITY. 103 

towards the prisoners taken on Long- Island, 
on the 27th day of August, 1776 ; sundry of 
whom were, in an inhuman and barbarous 
manner, murdered after they had surrender- 
ed their arms ; particularly a Gen. Odel, or 
Woodhul, of the militia, who was hacked to 
pieces with cutlasses, when alive, by the light 
horsemen, and a Capt, Fellows, of the Conti- 
nental arm^y, who was thrust through with a 
bayonet, of which wound he died instantly. 

Sundry others were hanged up by the neck 
till they were dead ; five on the limb of a 
white oak tree, and without any reason as- 
signed, except that they were fighting in de- 
fence of the only blessing worth preserving : 
And indeed those who had the misfortune to 
fall into their hands at fort Washington, in 
the month of Nov. following, met with but 
very little better usage, except that they 
were reserved from immediate death to fam- 
ish and die with hunger ; in fine, the word 
rebel, applied to any vanquished persons, 
without regard to rank, who were in the con- 
tinental service, on the 27th of August afore- 
said, was thought, by the enemy, sufficient 



104 COL. E. Allen's observations, 

to sanctify whatever cruelties they were pleas- 
ed to inflict, death itself not excepted ; but 
to pass over particulars which would swell 
my narrative far beyond my design. 

The private soldiers, who were brought to 
New- York, were crowded into churches, and 
environed with slavish Hessian guards, a peo- 
ple of a strange language, who were sent to 
America for no other design but cruelty and 
desolation ; and at others, by merciless Brit- 
ons, whose mode of communicating ideas be- 
ing intelligible in this country served only to 
tantalize and insult the helpless and perishing ; 
but, above all, the hellish delight and triumph 
of the tories over them, as they were dying 
by hundreds : This was too much for me to 
bear as a spectator ; for I saw the tories ex- 
ulting over the dead bodies of their murder- 
ed countrymen. I have gone into the church- 
es, and seen sundry of the prisoners in the 
agonies of death, in consequence of very 
hunger, and others speechless, and near 
death, biting pieces of chips ; others plead- 
ing for God's sake, for something to eat, 
and at the same time, shivering with the 



DURING HIS CAPTIVITY. 105 

€old. Hollow groans saluted my ears, and 
despair seemed to be imprinted on every of 
their countenances. The filth in these church- 
es, in consequence of the fluxes, was almost 
beyond description. The floors were cover- 
ed with excrements. I have carefully sought 
to direct my steps so as to avoid it, but could 
not. They would beg for God's sake for 
one copper, or morsel of bread. I have seen 
in one of these churches seven dead, at the 
same time, lying among the excrements of 
their bodies. 

It was a common practice with the enemy, 
to convey the dead from these filthy places, 
in carts, to be slightly buried, and I have seen 
whole gangs of tories making derision, and 
exulting over the dead, saying, there goes 
another load of damned rebels. I have ob- 
served the British soldiers to be full of their 
black-guard jokes, and vaunting on those oc- 
casions, but they appeared to me less malig- 
nant than tories.* 



* However the reader of these enormities may feel 
exaspc-rated, as vndou.bttdly he does, at the conduct of 
the British mid alienated Americans, it is wrong to ac- 



106 COL. E. Allen's observations, 

The provision dealt out to the prisoners 
was by no means sufficient for the support of 
life: It was deficient in quantity, and much 
more so in quality. The prisoners often 
presented me with a sample of their bread, 
which I certify was damaged to that degree, 
that it was loathsome and unfit to be eaten, 
and I am bold to aver it, as my opinion, that 
it had been condemned, and was of the very 
worst sort. I have seen and been fed upon 
damaged bread, in the course of my cap- 
tivity, and observed the quality of such 
bread as has been condemned by the enemy, 
amonr? which was very lit'Ie so effectually 
spoiled as what was dealt out to these prison- 
ers. Their allowance of meat (as they told 
me) was quite trifling, and of the basest sort, 
I never saw any of it, but v/as informed, bad 
as it was, it was swallowed almost as quick 



ciise a body of men, indiscpimmately, of the commission 
of crimes. Among the latter were nodoubt^ many who 
were not^.orry for, or might exult in the persec^ition ; 
but iis probably there were many wlio acted from what 
they deenied principle. A whole sect of any descrip- 
tion do not merit denunciation in consecmtnce of the 
perfidy of a part. 



DURING KIS CAPTIVIXr. 107 

as they got hold of it, I saw some of them 
suckmg bones after they were speechless ; 
others, who could yet speak, and had the 
use of their reason, urged me, in the strong- 
est and most pathetic manner, to use my in- 
terest in their behalf ; for you plainly see, 
said they, that we are devoted to death and 
destruction ; and, after I had examined more 
particularly into their truly deplorable con- 
dition, and had become more fully apprized 
of the essential facts, I was persuaded that it 
was a premeditated and systematical plan of / 
the British council, to destroy the youths of 
our land, with a view thereby to deter the 
country ,, and make it submit to their despot- 
ism ; but that I could not do them any mate- 
rial service, and that, by any public attempt 
for that purpose, I might endanger myself by 
frequenting places the most nauseous and 
contagious that could be conceived of. I re- 
frained going into the churches, but frequent- 
ly conversed with such of the prisoners as 
were admitted to come out into the yard, and 
found that the systematical usage still contin- 
ued. The guard would often drive me 



108 COL. E. Allen's observations, 

away with their fixed bayonets. A Hessian 
one day followed me five or six rods, but by 
making use of my legs, I got rid of the lub- 
ber. Sometimes I could obtain a little con- 
versation, notwithstanding their severities. 

I was in one of the church yards, and it was 
rumoured among those in the church, and 
sundry of the prisoners came Vv^ith their usual 
complaints to me, and among the rest a large 
boned, tall young man, as he told me, from 
Pennsylvania, who was reduced to a mere 
skeleton ; he said he was glad to see me be- 
fore he died, which he had expected to have 
done last night, but was a little revived ; he 
farthermore informed me, that he and his 
brother had been urged to enlist into the Brit- 
ish, but had both resolved to die first ; that 
his brother had died last night, in conse- 
quence of that resolution, and that he expect- 
ed shortly to follow him ; but I made the 
other prisoners stand a little off*, and told him 
with a low voice to enlist ; he then asked, 
whether it was right in the sight of God ? I 
assured him that it was, and that duty to 
himself obliged him to deceive the British by 



DURING HIS CAPTIVITY. 109 

enlisting and deserting the fxrst opportunity ; 
upon which he answered with transport, that 
he w^ould enlist. I charged him not to men- 
tion my name as his adviser, lest it should get 
air, and I should be closely confined, in con- 
sequence of it. The integrity of these suf- 
fering prisoners is hardly credible. Many 
hundreds, I am confident, submitted to death, 
rather than enlist in the British service, which, 
I am informed, they most generally were pres- 
sed to do. I was astonished at the resolution 
of the two brothers particularly ; it seems that 
they could not be stimulated to such exer- 
tions of heroism from ambition, as they were 
but obscure soldiers ; strong indeed must 
the internal principle of virtue be, which sup- 
ported them to brave deaths and one of them 
went through the operation, as did many 
hundred others. I readily grant that instan- 
ces of public virtue are no excitement to the 
sordid and vicious, nor, on the other hand, 
will all the barbarity of Britain and Hesh- 
land* awaken them to a sense of their duty 



* Meant for Hesse, in Germany. These troops were 

K 



110 COL. E. Allen's observations,, 

to the public ; but these things will have their 
proper effect on the generous and brave. — * 
The officers on parole were most of them zea- 
lous, if possible, to afford the .miserable sol- 
diery relief, and often consulted with one 
another on the subject, but to no effect, being 
destitute of the means of subsistence, which 
they needed ; nor could the officers project 
any measure, which they thought would al- 
ter their fate, or so much as be a mean of get- 
ting them out of those filthy places to the 
privilege of fresh air. Some projected that 
all the officers should go in procession to 
Gen. Howe, and plead the cause of the per- 
ishing soldiers ; but this proposal was nega- 
tived for the following reasons, viz. because 
that Gen. Howe must needs be well acquaint- 
ed, and have a thorough know^ledge of the 
state and condition of the prisoners in every 
of their wretched apartments, and that much 
more particular and exact than any officer on 



v/hat were called mercenaries ; being in the pay of a 
foreign power. To a free born American, the taking 
up of arms in any other cause than the defence or honor 
of his own country, appears indescribably degrading. 



JDURING HIS CAPTIVITY. Ill 

parole could be supposed to have, as the Gen- 
eral had a return of the circumstances of the 
prisoners, by his own officers, every morn- 
ing, of the number which were alive, as also 
the number which died every twenty four 
hours; and consequently the bill of mortality, 
as collected from the daily returns, lay be- 
fore him with all the material situations and 
circumstances of the prisoners ; and provid- 
ed the coicers should go in procession to 
Gen. Hovv^e, according to the projection, it 
would give him the greatest affront, and tliat 
he would either retort upon them, that it 
was no part of their parole to instruct him in 
his conduct to prisoners ; that they were 
mutinying against his authority, and, by af- 
fronting him, had forfeited their parole ; or 
that, more probably, instead of saying one 
word to them, would order them all into as 
wretched a confinement as the soldiers whom 
they sought to relieve ; for, at that time, the 
British, from the General to the private cen- 
tinel, were in full confidence, nor did they so 
m?uch as hesitate, but that they should con- 
quer the country. Thus the consultation of 



112 COL. E. Allen's observation's, 

the officers was confounded and broken to 
pieces, in consequence of the dread, which at 
that time lay on their minds, of offending 
Gen. Howe ; for they conceived so murder- 
ous a tyrant would not be too good to des- 
troy even the officers, on the least pretence of 
an affront, as they were equally in his power 
with the soldiers ; and, as Gen. Howe per- 
fectly understood the condition of the private 
soldiers, it was argued that it was exactly 
such as he and his council had devised, and 
as he meant to destroy them it would be to 
no purpose for them to try to dissuade him 
from it, as they were helpless and liable to 
the same fate, on giving the least affront ; in- 
deed anxious apprehensions disturbed them 
in their then circumstances. 

Mean time mortality raged to such an in- 
tolerable degree among the prisoners, that the 
very school boys in the streets knew the men- 
tal design of it in some measure ; at least, 
they knew tliat tlicy were starved to death. 
Some poor Vv^omen contributed to their ne- 
cessitv, till their children were almost starv- 
<:vd, and all persons of common understand- 



DURING HIS CAPTIVItY. 113 

ing knew that they were devoted to the cru- 
dest and worst of deaths. It was also pro- 
posed by some to make a written representa- 
tion of the condition of the soldiery, and the 
officers to sign it, and that it should be couch- 
ed in such terms, as though they were appre- 
hensive that the General was imposed upon 
by his officers, in their daily returns to him 
of the state and condition of the prisoners ; 
and that therefore the officers, moved with 
compassion, were constrained to communi- 
cate to him the facts relative to them, nothing 
doubting but that they would meet with a 
speedy jedress ; but this proposal was most 
generally negatived also, and for much the 
same reason offered in the other case ; for it 
was conjectured that Gen. Howe's indigna- 
tion would be moved against such officers as 
should attempt to whip him over his officers' 
backs ; that he w^ould discern that himself 
was really struck at, and not the officers who 
made the daily returns ; and therefore self 
preservation deterred the officers from either 
petitioning or remonstrating to Gen, Howe, 

K 2 



114 COL. E. ALLEN'S OBSERVATIONS, 

either verbally or in writing ; as also the con- 
sideration that no valuable purpose to the dis- 
tressed would be obtained. 

I made several rough drafts on the subject^ 
one of which I exhibited to the Cols. Ma- 
gaw, Miles, and Atlee, and they said that they 
would consider the matter ; soon after I 
dialled on them, and some of the scentlemen 
informed me, that they had written to the 
Gen. on the subject, and I concluded that 
the gentlemen thought it best that they should 
write without me, as there was such spirited 
aversion subsisting between the British and 
me. 

In the mean time a Col. Hussecker, of the 
continental army, as he then reported, was 
taken prisoner, and brought to New-York, 
who gave out that the country was almost uni- 
versally submitting to the English king's au- 
thority, and that there would be little or no 
more opposition to Great-Britain : This at 
first gave the officers a little shock, Imt in a 
few days they recovered themselves ; fpr this 
Col. Hussecker, being a German, was feast- 
ing with Gen. De Heister, his countryman^ 



DURING HIS CAPTIVITY. 115 

and from his conduct they were apprehensive, 
that he was a kna^^e ; at least he was esteem- 
ed so by most of the officers ; it was never- 
theless a day of trouble. The enemy blas- 
phemed. Our little army was retreating in 
New-Jersey, and our young men murder- 
ed by hundreds in New-York : The army 
of Britain and Keshland prevailed for a little 
season, as though it v/as ordered by Heaven 
to shew, to the latest posterity, what the Brit- 
ish would have done if they could, and what 
the general calamity must have been, in con- 
sequence of their conquering the country, 
and to excite every honest man to stand 
forth in the defence of liberty, and to estab- 
lish the independency of the United States of 
America forever : But this scene of adverse 
fortune did not discourage a Washington : 
The illustrious American hero remained im- 
moveable. In liberty's cause he took up his 
sword : This reflection was his support and 
consolation in the day of his humiliation, 
when he retreated before the enemy, through 
New-Jersey into Pennsyivania. Their tri- 
umph only roused his indignation ; and the 



116 COL. E. Allen's observations, 

important cause of his country, which lay near 
his heart, moved him to cross the Delaware 
again, and take ample satisfaction on his pur- 
suers. No sooner had he circumvallated his 
haughty foes, and appeared in terrible array, 
but the host of Heshland fell. This taught 
America the intrinsic worth of perseverance, 
and the generous sons of freedom flew to tha 
standard of their common safeguard and de- 
fence ; from which time the arm of Ameri- 
can liberty hath prevailed.-^ 

This surprize and capture cf the Hessians 
enraged the enemy, who were still vastly 



* The American army being greatly reduced by the 
loss of men talvcn prisoners, and by the departure of 
men whose inlistments had expired, general Washing- 
ton was obliged to retreat towards Philadelphia ; gener- 
al Howe, exulting in his successes, pursued him, not- 
withstanding the weather was severely cold. To add to 
the disasters of the Americans, general Lee was surpris- 
ed and taken prisoner at Baskenridge. In this gloomy 
state of affairs, many persons joined the British cause 
and took protections. But a small band of heroes check- 
ed the tide of British success. A division of Hessians 
had advanced to Trenton, where they reposed in secur- 
ity. General Washington was on the opposite side of 
the Delaware, with about three thousand men, many of 
whom were without shoes or convenient clothing j and 
theriver was covered with floatinp; ice. But the gener- 
al knev/ the importance of striking some successful 



DURING HIS CAPTIVITY. 117 

more numerous than the continental troops : 
They therefore collected, and marched from 
Princetown, to attack Gen. Washington, who 
was then at Trenton, having previously left 
a detachment from their main body at Prince - 
to^vii, for the support of that place. This 
was a trying time, for our worthy General, 
though in possession of a late most astonish- 
ing victory, was by no means able to with- 
stand the collective force of the enemy ; but 
his sagacity soon suggested a stratagem to ef- 
fect that which, by force, to him was at that 
time impracticable : He therefore amused the 
enemy with a number of fires, and in the 
night made a forced march, undiscovered by 
them, and next morning fell in with their rear 
guard at Princetown, and killed and took most 
of them prisoners. The main body too late 
perceived their rear was attacked, hurried 
back with all speed, but to their mortification, 

blow, to anhnate the expiring hopes of the country ; and 
on the night of December 25th, crossed tiie river, and 
fell on the enemy by surprize, and took the "\vhoIe body 
consisting of about nine hundred men. A few were 
kiUed, among whom was colonel Rahl the commander. 

[ Webster's Elemmt!t, 



118 COL. E. Allen's observations, 

found they were out-generalled, and baffied 
by Gen. Washington, who was retired with 
his little army towards Morristown, and v/as 
out of their power.* These repeated suc- 
cesses, one on the back of the other, cha- 
grined the enemy prodigiously, and had an 
amazing operation in the scale of American 
politics, and undoubtedly was one of the corn- 
er stones, on which their fair structure of In- 
dependency has been fabricated ; for the 



* On the 2d of January 177/, lord Corn wallis appear- 
ed near Trenton, v/iih a strong body of troops. Skir- 
mishing took place, and impeded the march of the Brit- 
ish anny, until the Americaias liad secured their artille- 
ry and baggage ; v/li-en they retired to the south \7ard of 
.the creek, and repulsed the enemy in their attempt to 
pass the bridge. As general Washington's force was 
3ioi sufBcient to meet the enenriy, and his situation v/as 
critical, he determined, with the advice of a council of 
vrar, to attempt a stralao-em. He f>:ave orders for the 
troops to light fires in their camp, [which were intend- 
ed to deceive the enemy,] and be prepared to maixh. 
Accordingly at tvv'elve o'clock at night the troops left 
the ground, and by a circuitous inarch, eluded the vigi- 
lance of the enemy, and early in the morning, appeared 
at Princetown. A smart action, ensued, but the British 
troops gave way. A party took refuge in the college, a 
building with strong stone walls, but were forced to sur- 
render. The enemy lost in killed, wounded and pris- 
oners, about five hundred men. The Am^ericans lost 
but few m^n ; but among them was a most valuable oHi- 
cerj general Mercer. [ Webster^ s Elements. 



DURING HIS CAPTIVITY. 119 

country at no one time has ever been so much 
dispirited as just before the morning of this 
glorious success, which in part dispelled the 
gloomy clouds of oppression and slavery, 
v/hich lay pending over America, big with 
the ruin of this and future generations, and 
enlightened and spirited her sons to redouble 
their blows on a merciless, and haughty, and, 
I may add, perfidious enemy. 

Farthermore, this success had a mighty ef- 
fect on Gen. Howe and his council, and rous- 
ed them to a sense of their own weakness, 
and convinced them that they were neither 
omniscient nor omnipotent. Their obduracy 
and death-designing malevolence, in some 
measure, abated or was suspended. The 
prisoners, who were condemned to the most 
wretched and crudest of deaths, and v/ho 
survived to this period, though most of them 
died before, were immediately (frdered to be 
sent within Gen. Washington's lines, for an 
exchange, and, in consequence of it, were 
taken out of their filthy and poisonous places 
of confinement, and sent out of New-York to 
their friends in haste ; several of them fell 



120 coLe E. Allen's observations, 

dead in the streets of New- York, as they at- 
tempted to walk to the vessels in the harbor, 
for their intended embarkation. What num- 
bers lived to reach the lines I cannot ascer- 
tain, but, from concurrent representations 
which I have since received from numbers of 
people who lived in and adjacent to such 
parts of the country, where they were re- 
ceived from the enemy, I apprehend that 
most of them died in consequence of the 
vile usage of the enemy. Some, who were 
eye-witnesses of that scene of mortality, more 
especially in that part which continued after 
the exchange took place, are of opinion, that 
it was partly in consequence of a slow pois- 
on ;-* but this I refer to the doctors that 
attended them, who are certainly ^the best 
judges. 

Upon the best calculation I have been able 
to make from personal knowledge, and the 

* This conjecture is not probable ; and, however we 
may feel for the injuries of our oppressed fellow citi- 
zens, we need not recur to any thing but facts to prove 
their severity. If coarse fare, and unwholesome ali- 
ment were meant by the colonel, for « slow poison,** 
it v/as, no doubt, administered to the;m. 



DURING HIS CAPTIVITY. 121 

many evidences I have collected in support 
of the facts, I learn that, of the prisoners ta- 
ken on Long- Island, fort Washington, and 
some fev/ others, at different times and places, 
about two thousand perished with hunger, 
cold and sickness, occasioned by the filth of 
iheir prisons, at Nev/-York, and a number 
more on their passage to the continental 
lines; most of the residue, vvho reached 
their friends, having received their death 
wound, could not be restored by the assist- 
raice of physicians and fi'iends ; but, like 
their brother prisoners, fell a sacrifice to the 
relentless and scientific barbarity of Britain. 
I took as much pains as my circumstances 
would admit of, to inform myself not only of 
matters of fact, but likev;ise of the very de- 
sign and aims of Gen. Hovv^e and his council : 
The latter of which I predicated on the for- 
mer, and submit it to the candid public. 
- And lastly, the aforesaid success of the 
American arms had a happy effect on the 
continental officers, who were on parole at 
New- York : A number of us assembled, but 

L 



122 COL. E. Allen's observu\tions, 

not in a public manner, and, with full bov/ls 
and glasses, drank Gen. Washington's health, 
and were not unmindful of Congress and our 
w'orthy friends on the continent, and almost 
torg6t that we were prisoners. 

A few days after this recreation, a British 
officer of rank and importance in their army, 
whose name I shall not mention in this nar- 
rative, for certain reasons, though I have men- 
tioned it to some of my close friends and con- 
fidants, sent for me to his lodgings, and told 
rae, '' That faithfulness, though in a wrong 
cause, had nevertheless recommended me to 
Gen. Sir William Howe, who was minded to 
make me a Colonel of a regiment of new lev- 
ies, alias tories, in the British service ; and 
proposed that I should go with him, and some 
other ofHcers, to England, w^ho would embark 
for that purpose in a few days, and there be 
introduced to Lord G^ Germaine, and proba- 
bly to the King ; and, that previously I 
should be clothed equal to such an introduc- 
tion, and, instead of paper rags, be paid in 
hard guineas ; after this should embark with 
Gen. Burgoyne, and assist in the reduction 



DURING HIS CAPTIVITY. 123 

of the country^ which hifallibly would be con- 
quered, and, when that should be done, I 
should have a large tract of land, either in the 
New-Hampshire grants, or in Connecticut, it 
would make no odds, as the country w^ould 
be forfeited to the crown." I then replied, 
"■ That, if by faithfulness I had recommend- 
ed myself to Gen. Hov/e, I should be loth, by 
unfaithfulness, to lose the General's good 
opinion ; besides, that I viewed the offer of 
land to be similar to that w^hich the devil of- 
fered Jesus Christ, "' To give him all the 
kingdoms of the world, if he would fall down 
and worship him ;" when at the same time, 
that the damned soul had not one foot of land 
upon earth." This closed the conversation, 
and the gentleman turned from nie with an air 
of dislike, saying, that I was a bigot ; upon 
which I retired to my lodgings.^" 

Near the last of November I vv^as admitted 
to parole in New-York, with many othei 



* This conduct of colonel Allen, though spriof^-- 
ingfroRi duty, ought not to be passed over without trib- 
utai'V praise. The refusal of such an oflfer and in such 
circumstances^ Avas highly meritorious. Though the 



124 COL. E. Allen's observations, 

American officers, and on the 22d day of Jan- 
uary, 1777, was with them directed by the 
British commissary of prisoners to be quarter- 
ed on the v/esterly part of Long-Island, and 
our parole continued. During my imprison- 
ment there, no occurrences worth observation 
Irippened. I obtained the means of living as 
veil as I desired, which in a orreat measure 
repaired my constitution, which had been 
greatly injured by the severities of an inhu- 
rrian captivity. I now began to feel myself 
composed, expecting either an exchange, or 
continuance in good and honorable treat- 
ment ; but alas ! my visionary expectations 
£Oon vanished. The news of the conquest 
cf Ticonderoga by Gen. Burgoyne,^ and the 

man of strict honour, and rigid integrity, deems the 
I 'audit of his own conscience an ample re^A^ard for his 
best actions, it is a pleasing employment, to those who 
witness such actions, to record them. It is an incentive 
to others to " go and do likewise." 

* In June, 1777, the British army, amounting to ser- 
en thousand men, besides Indians and Canadians, coin- 
manded by f^eneral Burgoyne, crossed the lake and laid 
siege to Ticonderoga. In a short time, the enemy 
gained possession of Sugar Hill, which commanded the 
Am.erican lines, and general St. Clair, with the advice of 
a council of war, ordered the posts to be abandoned. 



DURING HIS CAPTIVITY. 125 

advance of his army into the country, made 
the haughty Britons again to feel their impor- 
tance, and with that their insatiable thirst for 
cruelty. 

The private prisoners at New- York, and 
some of the officers on parole, felt the severi- 
ty of it. Burgoyne was their to a stand demi- 
god : To him they paid adoration : In him 
the tories placed their confidence, ** and for- 
got the Lord, their God," and served Howe, 
Burgoyne, and Knyphausen,* *' and became 
vile in their own imaginations, and their fool- 
ish hearts were darkened, professing" to be" 
great politicians, and relying on foreign and 
merciless invaders, and with them seeking 
the ruin, bloodshed and destruction of their 



The retreat of the Americans was conducted under ev- 
ery possible disadvantage — part of their force embarked. 
in batteaux and landed at Skenesborough— a part march- 
ed by the way of Castletown ; but they were obliged to 
leave their heavy cannon, and, on their march, lost great 
part of their baggage and stores, while their rear was. 
harrassed by the British troops. An action took place 
between colonel Waraer, with a body of Americans 
and General Frazcr, in which the Am.ericans were de« 
feated, after a brave resistance, with the loss of 9, v^iiua- 
hit ofiicer, colonel Francis. 

* Knyphftiisen, a Hessian General, 



126 COL. E. Allen's observations, 

couiitry, '* became fools," expecting witli 
them to share a dividend in the confiscated 
estates of their neighbours and countrymen 
who fought for the whole country, and the re- 
ligion and liberties thereof: ^' Therefore 

God gave them over to strong delusions, to 
believe a lie, that they all might be damned*'' 
The 25th day of August I was apprehend- 
ed, and, under pretext of artful, mean and 
pitiful pretences, that I had infringed on my 
parole, taken from a tavern, where there were 
more than a dozen officers present and, in the 
very place where those officers and myself 
were directed to be quartered, put under a 
strong guard, and taken to New- York, where 
I expected to make my defence before the 
commanding officer ; but, contrary to my ex- 
pectations, and without the least solid pre- 
tence of justice or a trial, was again encircled 
With a strong guard with fixed bayonets, and 
conducted to the provost- gaol in a lonely 
apartment, next above the dungeon, and was 
denied all manner of subsistence either by pur- 
chase or allowance. The second day I oiFer-^ 
ed a guinea for a meal of victuals, but was de- 



DURING HIS CAPTIVITY, 127 

nied it, and the third da.y I offered eight 
Spanish milled dollars for a like favor, but 
was denied, and all that I could get out of the 
Serjeant's mouth, was that, by God he would 
obey his orders. I nov/ perceived myself to 
be again in substantial trouble. In this con- 
dition I formed an oblique acquaintance with 
a Capt. Travis, of Virginia, who was in the 
dungeon below me, through a little hole 
which was cut, with a pen-knife, through the 
floor of my apartment which communicated 
with the dungeon ; it was a small crevice^ 
through which I could discern but a very 
small part of his face at once, v/hen he applied 
it to the hole ; but from the discovery of him 
in the situation which we were both then in, I 
could not have known him, which I found to 
be true by an after acquaintance. I could nev- 
ertheless hold a conversation with him, and 
soon perceived him to be a gentleman of high 
spirits, who had a high sense of honor, and 
felt as big, as though he had been in a palace, 
and had treasures of wrath in store against 
the British. In fine I was charmed v/ith the 
spirit of the man ; he had been near or quite 



128 COL. E. Allen's observations, 

four months in that dungeon, with murder- 
ers, thieves, and every species of criminals, 
and all for the sole crime of unshaken fidelity 
to his country ; but his spirits were above 
dejection, and his mind unconquerable. I en- 
gaged to do him every service in my power, 
and, in a few weeks afterwards, v/ith the unit- 
ed petitions of the officers in the provost, pro- 
cured his dismission from the dark mansion 
of iiends to the apartments of his petitioners. 
And it came to pass on the 3d day, at the 
going down of the sun, that I was presented 
with a piece of boiled pork, and some biscuit, 
which the sergeant gave m.e to understand, 
was my allov/ance, and I fed sweetly on the 
same ; but I indulged my appetite by de^ 
grees, and, in a few days more, was taken 
from that apartment, and conducted to the 
next loft or story, where there were above 
twenty continental, and some militia officers, 
Y/ho had been taken, and imprisoned there, 
besides some private gentlemen, who had 
been dragged from their own homes to that 
iilthy place, by toriesa Several of every de« 



DURING HIS CAPTIVITY. 129 

nomination mentioned died there, some be- 
fore, and others after I was put there. 

The history of the proceedings relative to 
the provost only, were I particular, would 
swell a volume larger than this whole narra- 
tive : I shall therefore only notice such of the 
occurrences which are most extraordinary. 

Capt. Vandyke bore, with an uncommon 
fortitude, near twenty months' confinement in 
this place, and in the meantime vv^as very ser- 
viceable to others who were confmed with 
him. The allegation against him, as the 
cause of his confinement, was very extraor- 
dinary : He was accused of setting fire to the 
city of New- York, at the time the west part 
of it was consumed, v/hen it was a knovv^n 
fact, that he had been in the provost a week 
before the fire broke out ; and, in like man- 
ner, frivolous w^ere the ostensible accusations 
against most of those who were there confin- 
ed ; the case of two militia officers excepted, 
v/ho were taken in their attempting to escape 
from their parole ; and probably there may be 
some other instances which might justify such 
a confinement. 



130 COL. E. ALLEN'S OBSERVATIONS, 

Mr. William Miller, a committee man, 
from West Chester county, and state of New- 
York, was taken from his bed in the dead of 
night, by his tory neighbours, and was starv- 
ed for three days and nights in an apartment 
of the same gaol ; add to this the denial of 
fire, and that in a cold season of the year, in 
which time he walked day and night, to de- 
fend himself against the frost, and when he 
complained of such a reprehensible conduct, 
the word rebel or committee man was deem- 
ed by the enemy a sufficient atonement for 
any inhumanity that they could invent or in- 
fiict. He was a man of good natural under- 
standing, a close and sincere friend to the lib- 
erties of America, and endured fourteei^ 
inonths' cruel imprisonment with that magna- 
nimity of soul, which reBects honor on him- 
self and country. 

Major Levi Wells, and dipt. Ozias Bissel, 
were apprehended and taken under guard 
from their parole on Long- Island, to the pro- 
vost, on as fallacious pretences as the form- 
er, and were there continued till their ex» 
change took Dlace, which was near five 



DURING HIS CAPTIVITY. 131 

months. Their fidelity and zealous attach- 
mefiit to their country's cause, which was 
more than commonly conspicuous was, un- 
doubtedly the real cause of their confinement. 

Major Brinton Payne, Capt. Flahaven, and 
Capt. Randolph, who had at different times 
distinguished themselves by their bravery, 
especially at the several actions, in which 
they were taken, were all the provocation 
they gave, for which they suffered about a 
year's confinement, each in the same filthy 
gaol.* 

A few weeks after my confinement, on the 
like fallacious and wicked pretences, was 
brought to the same place, from his parole on 
Long-Island, Major Otho Holland Williams 
now a full Col. in the continental army. In 
his character are united the gentleman, offi- 
cer, soldier, and friend ; he walked through 
the prison with an air of great disdain ; said 
he, " Is this the treatment which gentlemen 

* The sufferings of the prisoners in New- York, who 
remained faithful to their country's cause, are stated, 
on'other authorities, besides that of Col. Allen, to hare 
been severe and excessive. 



152 COL. E. allun's observations, 

of the continental army are to expect from 
the rascally British, when in their power ? 
Heavens forbid it 1" He v/as continued there 
about five months, and then exchanged for a 
British Major. 

John Fell, Esq. now a member of Con- 
gress for the state of New-Jersey, was taken 
from his ownhouse by a gang of infa^mous to- 
ries, and by order of aBritish Gen. was sent to 
the provost, where he was continued near 
one year. The stench of the gaol, which 
was very loathsome and unhealthy, occasion- 
ed a hoarseness of the lungs, which proved 
fatal to many who were there confined, and 
reduced this gentleman near to the point of 
death ; he was indeed given over by his 
friends who w^ere about him, and himself con- 
cluded he must die. I could not endure the 
thought that so worthy a friend to America 
should have his life stolen from him in such 
a mean, base, and scandalous manner, and 
that his family and friends should be bereav- 
ed of so great and desirable a blessing, as his 
farther care, usefulness and example, might 
prove to them, I therefore wrote a letter to 



DURING HIS CArXIVITY. 153 

Gen. Robertson, Vv'lio commanded in town, 
and being touclied with tlie most sensible 
feelings of humanity, which dictated my pen 
to paint dying distress in such lively colours 
that it VvFou^ht conviction even on the obdu- 
racy of a British General, and prodacedhis 
order to remove the now honorable John Fell, 
esq. out of a gaol, to private lodgings in 
town ; in consequence of v.diich lie" slowly 
recovered his health. There is so extraor- 
dinary a circumstance which intervened cc:i- 
cerning this letter, that it is worth noticing. 
Previous to sending it, I exhibited the 
same to the gentleman on v/hcse belialf it 
was written, for his approbation, and lie for- 
bid me to send it in the most positive and 
explicit terms ; his reason wrs, '' That the 
enemy knew, by every morning's report, the 
condition of all the prisoners, m.ine in partic- 
ular, as I have been gradually coming to my 
end for a considerable time, and they very 
well knew it, and likewise determined it 
should be accomplished, as they had served 
many others ; that, to ask a favor, would give 

the merciless enemy occasion to triumph 

M ^ 



134 COL. E. Allen's observations, 

over me in my last moments, and therefore I 
will ask no favors from them, but resign my- 
self to my supposed fate." But the letter I 
sent without his knowledge, and I confess I 
had but little expectations from it, yet could 
not be easy till I had sent it. It may be w^orth 
a remark, that this gentleman was an Eng- 
lishman born, and, from the beginning of the 
revolution, has invariably asserted, and main- 
tained the cause of liberty. 

The British have made so extensive an im- 
provement of the provost during the present 
revolution till of late, that a very short defi- 
nition will be sufficient for the dullest appre- 
hensions. It may be with propriety called 
the British inquisition, and calculated to sup- 
port their oppressive measures and designs, 
by suppressing the spirit of liberty ; as also 
a place to confine the criminals, and most in- 
famous wretches of their own army, where 
manv s:entlemen of the American army, and 
citizens thereof, were promiscuously confin- 
ed, with every species of criminals ; but they 
divided into different apartments, and kept at 
as great a remove as circumstances permit- 



DURING HIS CArTlVlTY. 135 

ted ; but it was nevertheless at the option of 
a villanous serjeant, who had the charge of 
the provost, to take any gentleman from their 
room, and put them into the dungeon, which 
was often the case : At two different times I 
was taken dowm stairs for that purpose, by a 
file of soldiers with fixed bayonets, and the 
Serjeant brandishing his sword at the same 
time, and having been brought to the door of 
the dungeon, I there flattered the vanity of 
the Serjeant, w^hose name was Keef, by which 
means I procured the surprizing favor to re- 
turn to my companions ; but some of the 
high mettled young gentlem.en could not bear 
his insolence, and determined to keep at a 
distance, and neither please or displease the 
villain, but none could keep clear of his a- 
buse ; however, mild measures were the 
best ; he did not hesitate to call us damned 
rebels, and use us with the coarsest language. 
'The Capts. Flahaven, Randolph and Mercer, 
were the objects of his most flagrant and re- 
peated abuses, who were many times taken 
to th« dungeon, and there continued at l\is 
pleasure. Capt. Flahaven took cold in the 



156 COL. E. ALLEN'S OBSERVATIONS, 

dim2:con, and was in a declininp; state of 
health, but an exchange dehvered him, and 
in all probability saved his life. It was very 
mortifying to bear v/ith the insolence of such 
a vicious and ill bred, iniDcrious rascal. Re- 
monstrances against him were preferred to the 
commander of the tov/n, but no relief could 
be obtained, for his superiors v/ere undoubt- 
edly well pleased with his abusive conduct to 
the gentlemen, under the severities of his 
power ; and remonstrating against his infer- 
nal conduct, only served to confirm him in 
authority ; and for this reason I never made 
any remonstrances on the subject, but only 
streaked him, for I knew that he was but a 
cat's paw in the hands of the British officers, 
and that, if he should use us well, he would 
immediately be put out of that trust, and a 
v.'orse man appointed to succeed him ; but 
there was no need of making any new appoint- 
ment ; for Cunningham, their provost mar- 
shal, and Keef, his deputy, were as great ras- 
cals as their army could boast of, except one 
Joshua Loring, an infamous tory, who was 
Commissary of prisoners; nor can any of 



DURING HIS CAPTIVITY. 137 

these be supposed to be equally criminal with 
Gen. Sir William Howe and his associate^, 
who prescribed and directed the murders and- 
cruelties, which were by them perpetrated. 
This Loring is a monster ! — There is not his 
like in human shape. He exhibits a smiling 
countenance, seems to wear a phiz of human- 
ity, but has been instrumentally capable of the 
most consummate acts of wickedness, which 
were first projected by an abandoned British 
council, clothed with the authority of a Howe, 
murdering' premeditatedly, in cold bloochnear 
or quite two thousand helpless prisoners, and 
that in the most clandestine, mean and shame- 
ful manner, at New- York. He is the most 
mean spirited, cowardly, deceitful, and des- 
tructive animal in God's creation below, and 
legions of infernal devils, w^ith ail their tre- 
mendous horrors, are impatiently ready tp 
receive Howe and him, with all their detest- 
able accomplices, into the most exquisite ag- 
onies of the hottest region of hell fire.* 



* The publishers would suppress some of the language 
and expressions Col. Allen occasionally makes use of; 

• M 2 •" 



138 COL. E. Allen's observations, 

The 6tli day of July, 1777, Gen. St. Clair, 
and the army under his command, evacuated 
Ticonderoga, and retreated with the main 
body through Hubbardton into Castleton, 
which was but six miles distance, when his 
rear- guard, commanded by Col. Seth War- 
ner, was attacked at Hubbardton by a body of 
the enemy of about two thousand, command- 
ed by General Fraser. Warner's command 
consisted of his own and two other regiments, 
viz. Francis's and Hale's, and some scatter- 
ing and enfeebled soldiers. His whole num- 
ber, according to information, was near or 
quite one thousand; part of which were Green 
Mountain Boys ; about seven hundred out of 
tlje whole he brought into action. The ene- 
luv advanced boldlv, and the two bodies form- 
ed within about sixty yards of each other. 
Col. Warner having formed his own regi- 
ment, and that of Col. Francis's, did not wait 
for the enemy, but gave them a heavy fire 

hut, presiimmg the reader to make all reasonable allow- 
ance both for the style, and toe matter, it was thought 
litest eligible to give the narrative in the very dress fur- 
bished by the author. 



DURING HIS CAPTIVITY. 139 

from his whole line, and they returned it with 
great bravery. It was by this time danger- 
ous for those of both parties, who were not 
prepared for the world to come ; but Colonel 
Hale being apprised of the danger, never 
brought his regiment to the charge, but left 
Warner and Francis to stand the blowing of 
it, and fled, but luckily fell in with an incon- 
siderable number of the enemv, and to his 
eternal shame, surrendered himself a pris- 
oner.* 

The conflict was very bloodv. Col. Fran- 
CIS fell in the same, but Col. Warner, and the 
officers under his command, as also the sol- 
diery, behaved with great resolution. The 
enemy broke, and gave way on the right and 
left, but formed again, and renewed the at- 
tack ; in the mean time the British grenadiers, 
in the centre of the enemy's line, maintained 
the ground, and finally carried it with the 
point of the bayonet, and Warner retreated 
with reluctance. Our loss was about thirty 
men killed, and that of the enemy amounting 

* See note in pages 124 and 125. 



140 COL. E. Allen's observations^ 

to three hundred killed, mchiding a Major 
Grant. The enemy's loss I learnt from the 
confession of their own officers, when a pris- 
oner with them. I heard them likewise com- 
plain, that the Green Mountain Boys took 
sight. The next movement of the enemy, 
of anv material consequence, Avas their invest- 
ing Bennington,^" with a design to demolish 
it, and subject its Mountaineers, to which 
they had a great aversion, Vv^ith one hundred 
and fifty chosen men, including tories, with the 
highest expectation of success, and having 
chosen an eminence of strong ground, forti: 



* The Americans had collected a qus.ntity of stores at 
Bennington ; to destroy which as well as to animate the 
royalists and intimidate the patriots, general iku^goync 
detached colonel Baum, with five hundred men and one 
hundred Indians. Colonel Breyman was sent to rein- 
force him, but did not arrive in time. On the 16th of 
August, general Stark, with about eight hundred brave 
militia men, attacked colonel Baum, in his entrenched 
camp about six miles from Bennington, and killed or 
took prisoners nearly the whole detachment. Thenextday 
colonel Breyman was attacked and defeated. In jicse 
actions, the Americans took about seven hundred prison- 
ers and these successes served to revive the spirits of 
the people. This success liowever was in part counter- 
balanced by the advantfiges gained on the Mohawk by 
colonel St. Leger ; but this officer, atta.cking fort Stan- 
wix, was repelled, and obliged to abandon the attempt. 



DvURING HIS CAPTIVITY. 141 

cd it v/lth slight breast works, and two pieces 
of cannon ; but the government of the young 
state of Vermont, being previously jealous of 
such an attempt of the enemy, and in due 
time had procured a number of brave militia 
from the government of the state of New- 
Hampshire, v/ho, together with the militia of 
the north part of Berkshire county, and 
state of Massachusetts, and the Green Moun- 
tain Boys, constituted a body of despera- 
does,* under the command of the intrepid 
Gen. Stark, who in number were about equal 
to the enemy. Col. Herrick, w^ho command- 
ed the Green Mountain Rangers, and who 
was second in command, being thoroughly 
acquainted wdth the ground where the ene- 
my had fortified, proposed to attack them m 
their works upon all parts, at the same time. 
This plan being adopted by the General and 
his council of war, the little militia brigade 
of undisciplined heroes, with their long brown 
firelocks, the best security of a free people, 
without either cannon or bayonets, was, on 

* Nothing more is meant by this expression tlian ^ 
brave and resolute band. 



142 COL. E. Allen's observatioxs, 

the 16th day of August, led on to the attack 
by theu' bold commanders, in the flice of the 
enemy's dreadful fire, and to the astonishment 
of the world, and burlesque of discipline, car- 
ried every part of their lines in less than one 
quarter of an hour after the attack became 
general, took their cannon, killed and capti- 
vated more than two thirds of their number, 
which immortalized Qen. Stark, and made 
Bennington famous to posterity. 

Among the enemy's slain was found Col. 
Baum, their commander, a Col. Pfester, who 
headed an infamous p-ans: of tories, and a 
large part of his command ; and among the 
prisoners was Major Meibome, their sec- 
ond in command, a number of British and 
Hessian officers, surgeons, &c. and more 
than one hundred of the aforementioned Pfes- 
ter's command. The prisoners being collect- 
ed together, were sent to the meeting house 
in the town, by a strong guard, and General 
Stark not imagining any present danger, the 
militia scattered from him to rest and refresh 
themselves ; in this situation he w^as on a 
sudden attacked by a reinforcement of one 



DURING HIS CAPTIVITY. 143 

thousand and oiie hundred of the enemy, 
commanded by a Gov. Skene, with two field 
pieces : They advanced in regular order, 
and kept up an incessant lire, especially from 
their field pieces, and the remaining militia 
retreating slowly before them, disputed the 
CTOund inch by inch. The enemy were 
heard to halloo to tliem, saying, stop Yan- 
kees. In the mean time, Col. Warner, with 
about one hundred and thirty men of his re- 
giment, Vv'ho were not in the first action, ar- 
rived and attacked the enemy v/ith great fury, 
being determined to have ample revenge on 
account of the quarrel at Hubbardton, which 
brought them to a stand, and soon after Gen. 
Stark and Col. Herrick, brought on more of 
the scattered militia, and the action became 
general ; in a few minutes the enemy were 
forced from their cannon, gave way on all 
parts and fled, and the shouts of victory were 
a second time proclaimed in favor of the mi- 
litia. The enemy's loss in killed and prison- 
ers, in these two actions, amounted to more 
than one thousand and two hundred men, and 
our loss did not exceed fifty men. This was 



144 COL. E. allbn's observations, 

a bitter stroke to the eneni}^, but their pride 
would not permit them to hesitate but that 
they could vanquish the country, and as a 
specimen of their arrosrancv, I shall insert 
General Burgoyne's proclamation. 

" By John Burgoync, Esq. Lieutenant- 
General of his Majesty's armies in America, 
Colonel of the Queen's regiment of light 
dragoons, Governor of fort William in North- 
Britain, one of the Representatives of the 
Commons of Great Britain in Parliament, 
and commanding an army and fleet employ- 
ed on an expedition from Canada, &c. &c. &:c. 

'* The forces entrusted to my command 
are designed to act in concert and upon a 
common principle, with the numerous armies 
and fleets which already display in every 
quarter of America, the power, the justice, 
and, when properly souglit, the mercy of the 
Kine:. 

" The cause, in which the British arms arc 
thus exerted, applies to the most afiecting in- 
terests of the human heart ; and the military 
servants of the crown, at first called forth for 
the sole purpose of restoring the rights of the 



BURING HIS CAPTIVITY. 145 

eonstitution, now combine with love of their 
country, and duty to their sovereign, the oth- 
er extensive incitements vv^hich spring from a 
due sense of the general privileges of man- 
kind. To the eyes and ears of the temper- 
ate part of the public, and to the breasts of 
suffering thousands in the provinces, be the 
melancholy appeal,whether the present unnat- 
ural rebellion has not been made a founda- 
tion for the completest system of tyranny 
that ever God, in his displeasure, suffered for 
a time to be exercised over a fro ward and 
stubborn generation. 

*' Arbitrary imprisonment, conf.scation of 
property, persecution and torture, unprece- 
dented in the inquisitions of the RomJsli 
church, are among the palpable enormities 
tliat verify the affirmative. These arc inflict- 
ed by assemblies and committes, who dare 
to profess themselves friends to liberty, upon 
the most quiet subjects, without distinction 
of age or sex, for the sole crime, often for 
the sole suspicion, of having adhered in prin- 
ciple to the government under which they 
v/ere born, and to which, by every tie, divine 



146 COL. E. Allen's observations, 

and human, they owe allegiance. To con- 
summate these shocking proceedings, the 
profanation of religion is added to the most 
profligate prostitution of common reason ; 
the consciences of men are set at nought ; 
and multitudes are compelled not only to 
bear arms, but also to swear subjection to an 
usurpation they abhor. 

" Animated by these considerations ; at 
the head of troops in the full powers of health, 
discipline, and valor ; determined to strike 
where necessary, and anxious to spare where 
possible, I by these presents invite and ex- 
hort all persons, in all places where the pro- 
gress of this army may point } and by the 
blessing of God I will extend it far, to main- 
tain such a conduct as may justify me in pro- 
tecting their lands, habitations and families. 
The intention of this address is to hold forth 
security, not depredation to the country. To 
those whom spirit and principle may induce 
to partake of the glorious task of redeeming 
their countrymen from dungeons, and re-es- 
tablishing the blessings of legal government, 
I oiTer encouragement and employment ; and 



DURING HIS CAPTIVITY. 147 

tions, I will find means to assist their under- 
takings. The domestic, the industrious, the 
infirm, and even the timid inhabitants, I am 
desirous to protect, provided they remain qui- 
etly at their houses ; that they do not suffer 
their cattle to be removed, nor their corn or 
forage to be secreted or destroyed ; that they 
do not brcak up their bridges or roads : nor 
by any other act, directly or indirectly, en- 
deavour to obstruct the operations of the 
king's troops, or supply or assist those of the 
enemy. — Every species of provision brought 
to my camp, will be paid for at an equitabk 
rate, and in solid coin, 

** In consciousness of Christianity, my royal 
master's clemency, and the honor of soldier- 
ship, I have dwelt upon this invitation, and 
wished for more persuasive terms to give it 
impression : And let not people be led tQ 
disregard it, by considering their distance 
from the immediate situation of my camp.— ^ 
I have but to give stretch to the Indian forces 
under my direction, and they amount to thous- 
ands, to overtake the hardened enemies of 
Great-Britain and America : I consider them 
the same wherever they may lurk. 



148 COL, E. Allen's observations, 

** If, notwithstanding these endeavours, and 
sincere inclinations to ellect them, the phren-i 
sy of hostility should remain, I trust I shall 
stand acquitted in the eyes of God and men, 

in denonnciii Grand exccutiuE^ the ven^^eancc 

o o o 

of the state against the v/ilful outcasts. — The 
Jiiessengcrs of justice and of wrath await 
tliem in the field ; and devastation, famine, 
^nd everv concomitant horror that a reluc- 
tant but indispensible prosecution of military 
duty must occasion, will bear the way to their 
TCtum. J. BURGOYNE. 

^* By order of his excellency the Lieut. 
General, Robt. Kingston, 

Secret an/, 
'' Camp near Ticonderoga^ 4th July^ Yill. 



Gen. Burg'oyne v/as still the toast, and the 
severities towards the prisoners were in great 
TiicaBure increased or diminislied, in propor- 
tion to the expectation of conquest. His 
very ostentatious Proclamation was in the 
hand and mouth of most of the soldiery, espe- 
cially the tories, and from it, their faith was 
raised to assurance. — I v/ish my countrymen 
ia general could but have an idea of the as- 



DURING KIS CAPTIVITY. 149 

suming tyrann}', and haughty, malevolent, and 
insolent behavior of the enemy at that time ; 
and from thence discern the intolerable calam- 
ities which this country have extricated them- 
selves from by their public spiritedness and 
bravery. — The downfall of Gen. Burgoyne ;^ 
and surrender of his whole army, dashed the 
aspiring hopes and expectations of the enemy, 
and brought low the imperious spirit of an 
opulent, puissant and haughty nation, and 
made the tories bite the ground with an- 
guish, exalting the valor of the free-born sons 

* General Burgoyne, after collecting his forces and 
stores, crossed tlie Hudson with a view to penetrate to 
Albany. But the American army being reinforced dai» 
ly, held him in check at Saratoga. General Gates now 
took the command, and was aided by the generals Lin- 
coln and Arnold. On the 19 th of September, the Amcr» 
icans attacked the British army, and with such bravery, 
that the enemy could boast cf no advantage, and night 
put an end to the action. The loss of the enemy was 
about five hundred. General Burgoyne was confined in 
a narrow pass — -having the Hudson on one side and im- 
passable woods on tlie other — a body of Americans wai 
in liis rear — his boats he had ordered to be burnt, and he 
could not retreat— while an army of thirteen thousand 
men opposed him in front. On the 7th of October, the 
armies came to a second action, in which the Bi iush lost 
general Frazer, with a great number of oracers and men, 
and were driven within their lines. On the part of the 
Americans the loss was not great, but generals Lin- 
coln and Arnold were wounded. "^ Wcts.Ekm, 

N 9. 



150 COL. z. Allen's obs^ervations, 

of America, and raised their fame and that of 
their brave commanders to the clouds, and 
immortalized Gen. Gates with laurels of 
eternal duration.— No sooner had the knowl- 
edge of this interesting and mighty event 
reached His Most Christian Majesty,* who in 
Europe shines with a superior lustre in good- 
ness, policy and arms, but the illustrious pot- 
entate, auspiciously influenced by Heaven to 
promote the reciprocal interest and happiness 
of the ancient kingdom of France, and the 
new and rising states of America, passed the 
great and decisive decree, that the United 
States of America, should be free and inde- 
pendent. — Vaunt no more, Old England ! 
consider you are but an island ! and that your 
power has been continued longer than the ex- 
ercise of your humanity. Order your brok- 
en and vanquished battalions to retire from 
America, the scene of your cruelties. Go 
home and repent in dust and sackcloth for 
your aggravated crimes. The cries of be- 



* The colonel, it seems, though professedly a staunch 
>^hig', can, when good occasion offers, speak well of 

kings. 



DURING HIS CAPTIVITY. 151 

reaved parents, widows, and orphans, reach 
the Heavens, and you are abominated by eve- 
ry friend to America. Take your friends 
the tories with you, and be gone, and drink 
deep of the cup of humiliation. Make peace 
with the princes of the house of Bourbon,* 
for you are in no condition to wage war with 
them. Your. veteran soldiers are fallen in 
America, and your glory is departed. Be qui- 
et and pay your debts, especially for the hire 
of the Hessians. There is no other way for 
you to get into credit again, but by reforma- 
tion and plain honesty, which you have des- 
pised ; for your power is by no means suffi- 
cient to support your vanity. I have had op- 
portunity to see a great deal of it, and felt its 
severe effects, and learned lessons of wisdom 
and policy, when I wore your heavy ironsj 
and bore your bitter revilings and reproach- 

* The author, when writing the above, would scarcely 
have credited the tale, had he been told it, that England 
would be a flourishing and pov/erful nation after the 
house of Bourbon should be humbled in the dust. But 
such appears to be the fact ; and the new dynasty of Bo- 
naparte, after destroying every vestige of the rightful 
claimants to the throne is embracing in the extending, 
circle of its supremacy, every power in Europe, it i% 
feared, except England. 



152 COL. E. Allen's oeservations^ 

es. I have something of a smattering of phi- 
losophy, and understand human nature in all 
its stages tolerably well ; am thoroughly ac- 
quainted with your national crimes, and as- 
sure you that they i:0t only cry aloud for 
Heaven's vengeance, but excite mankind to 
rise up against you. Virtue, wisdom and 
policy are, in a national sense, Always connec- 
ted with power, or in other words, power is 
their olFspring, and such power as is not direc- 
ted by virtue, wisdom and policy, never fails 
fmally to destroy itself as yours has done. — 
It is so in the nature of things, and unfit that 
it should be otherwise ; for if it was not so, 
vanity, injustice, and oppression, might 
reign triumphant forever. I know you have 
individupJs, who still retain their virtue, and 
consequently their honor and humanity. 
Those I really pity, as they must more or less 
suffer in the calamity, in which the nation is 
plunged headlong ; but as a nation I hate 
and despise you. 

My affections are Frenchified. — I glory iii 
Louis the sixteenth, the generous and power- 
ful ally of these states ; am fond of a connec- 
tion with so enterprizing, learned, polite, 



DURING HIS CAPTIVITY. 153 

eourteous, and commercial a nation, and am 
sure that I express the sentiments and feelings 
of all the friends to the present revokition. I 
begin to learn the French tongue, and rec- 
ommend it to my countri'men before He- 
brew, Greek or Latin, (provided but one of 
them only are to be attended to) for the trade 
and commerce of these states in future must 
inevitably shift its channel from England to 
France, Spain, and Portugal ; and therefore 
the statesman, politician and merchant, need 
be acquainted with their several languages, 
particularly the French, which is much in 
vogue in most parts of Europe. Nothing 
could have served so effectually to illuminate^ 
polish, and enrich these states as the present 
revolution, as well as preserve their liberty* 
Mankind are naturally too national, even 
to a degree of bigotry, and commercial inter- 
course with foreign nations, has a great and 
necessary tendency to improve mankind, 
and erase the superstition of the mind by ac- 
quainting them that human nature, policy and 
interest, are the same in all nations, and at 
the same time they are bartering commodi- 
ties for the conveniences and happiness of 



154 COL. E. axlen's gbservations, 

each nation, they may reciprocally exchange 
such part of their customs and manners as 
may be beneficial, and learn to extend chari- 
ty and good will to the ^vholc world of man- 
kind. 1 was confined in the provost- gaol 

at New- York the 26th day of August, and 
continued there to the third day of May, 
1778, when I was taken out under guard, and 
conducted to a sloop in the harbour at Newr 
York, in which I was guarded to Staten- Isl- 
and, to ^Gen. Campbell's nuarters. where. I 
was admitted to eat and drink Vvith the Gen* 
and several other of the British field officers, 
and treated for two days in a polite manner. 
As I v/as drinking wine with them one even- 
ing, I made an observation on my transition 
from the provost-criminals to the company of 
gentlemen, adding that I was the same man 
still, and should give the British credit by 
him (speaking to the Gen.) for two days good 
usage. 

The next day Col. Archibald Campbell, 
who was exchanged for me, came to this 
place, conducted by Mr. Boudinot, the then 
American commissary of prisoners, and sa- 
luted me in aha^idsome manner, sayinsr that 



DURING HIS CAPTIVITY. 155 

he never was more glad to see any gentle- 
man in his life, and I gave him to under- 
stand that I was equally glad to see him, and 
was apprehensive that it was from the same 
motive. The gentlemen present laughed at the 
fancy, and conjectured that sweet liberty was 
the foundation of our gladness ; so we took a 
glass of wine together, andtheni was accompa- 
nied by gen. Campbell, col. CampbellMr. Bou- 
dinot, and a number of British officers, to the 
boat, which was ready to sail to Elizabeth- 
town-point. Mean while I entertamed them 
with a rehearsal of the cruelties exercised to- 
wards our prisoners ; and assured them that 
I should use my influence, that their prison- 
ers should be treated in future in the same 
manner, as they should in future treat ours ,; 
that I thought it was right in such extreme 
cases, that their example should be applied 
to their own prisoners ; then exchanged the 
decent ceremonies of compliment, and part- 
ed. I sailed to the point aforesaid, and, in a 
transport of joy, landed on liberty ground,^ 



* To appreciate the real value of any of the pleasures 
of life,.it is necessaey? perhaps, to be for a while deprired 



156 COL. E. Allen's obsehvations, 

and, as I advanced into the country, received 
the acclamations of a grateful people. 

I soon fell into company with Col. Shelden, 
of the light horse, who in a polite and oblig- 
ing manner accompanied me to head-quarters, 
Valley Forge, where I w^as courteously re- 
ceived by Gen. Washington, with peculiar 
marks of his approbation and esteem, and 
was introduced to most of the generals, and 
many of the principal officers of the army, 
who treated me with respect, and after hav- 
ing offered Gen. Washington my farther ser- 
Tice, in behalf of my country, as soon as my 



of them. Hunger, though an unpleasant sensation, gives 
us a most excellent relish for a well furnished repast ; 
and the bird, who has recently escaped the confinement 
of the fowier, cleaves the sstherwith lighter pinions than 
his feilow, who has long; hopped, languidly? from spray 
to spray, unconscious of tlie pains of captivity. After 
such a recital of woes as the reader has vv'itnessed, he will 
think that the feelinpjs of Col. Allen on his arrival, must 
have nearly repaid him for the cruelty of his suficrings, 
iind the length of his continemcnt. 

** Swift as I move, where earth's blest blessings dwell, 

What glad presentiments my bosom swell! 

What recollections ! Memory's power restores, 

Home of my chiUhood, thy beloved shores ! 

Fair, bursting through oblivion's mist, appear 

Thy deep-gr«£n vales, hold hills, and fountains clear.'* 

Home, afoon^ 



DURING HIS CAPTIVIXr. 157 

health, ^^aich was- very much impaired, would 
admit, and obtain his licence to return home, 
I took my leave of his excellency, and set 
out from Valley Forge with Gen. Gates and 
Jiis suit for Fish Kill, wher< we arrived the 
latter end of May. In this tour the Gen. 
%vas pleased to treat me with the familiarity 
of a companion, and generosity of a lord, and 
to him I made known some striking circum- 
stances which occurred in the course of my 
captivity.— I then bid farewell to my noble 
Gen. and the gentlemen of his retinue, and 
set out for Bennington, the capital of the 
Green Mountain Boys, where I arrived the 
evening of the last day of May to their great 
surprise ; for I was to them as one rose from 
the dead, and now both their joy and mine 
was complete. Three cannon were fired that 
evening, and next morning Col. Herrick gave 
orders, and fourteen more were discharged, 
welcoming me to Bennington, my usual place 
of abode ; thirteen for the United States, and 
one for young Vermont. 

^14888 362 



lis coi. E. allem's observations, &c. 

After this ceremony was ended we moved 
the flowing bowl, and rural felicity, sweeten- 
ed with friendship, glowed in each counte- 
nance, and with loyal healths to the rising 
States of America, concluded that evening, 
and, with the same loyal spirit, 



I ^VTF 



CONCLUDE MY NARRATIVE. 



subscribers' names. 

Of the following list of subscribers the titles are omitted. W 
intended publishing a complete catalogue of the names q 
those who have subscribed for the work. But as many o^ 
the papers were tiot returned in season.^ it was found to bt 
impossible without a delay of its publication. 



Jona. Atherton, Cavendish. 
James D. Brown, Windsor. 
M. R. Bartlett, Boston. 
Clark Brown, Montpelier. 
S. Boynton, do. 

J. Bellows, Jun. Walpole. 
J. Bellows, 2d. do. 

Salmon Bellows, do. 
J. G. Bond, Keene. 
Ira Blake, Chester. 
Guy Bridgman, Guilford, 
A. Cady, Keene. 
Watson Crosby, Brattleboro' 
Silas W. Cobb, Montpelier. 
S. Churchill, Woodstock. 
S. Button, Jun. Cavendish. 
S. Day, Montpelier. 
S. Dewey, do. 

James Dean, do. 
Parley Davis, do. 
S. Dinsmoor, Keene. 
J. Emerson, do. 
S. Elliot, Brattleboro*. 
N. Estabrook, Andover. 
Silvester Forbes, Windsor. 
Jesse Fletcher, Ludlow. 
R. Fletcher, Cavendish. 
Joel French, Montpelier. 
Isaac Freeman, do. 
Geo. Grlsv/old, Flanover. 
John Grout, Acworth. 
T. W. Hal!, Cornish. 
R. Healy, Acv/orth. 
U. C. Hatch, Cavendish. 



J. R. Hammond, Mount Holly 
Jona. Hunt, Hanover. 
H. Hitchcock, Windsor. 

F. Hunter, do. 
R. Hubbard, Sullivan. 

G. H. Hall, Brattleborough. 
p. C. Higgins, do. 

F. Holbrook, do. 
L. Joy, 2d. do. 
E. Joslin, Keene. 

B. Joyner, Montpelier. 
E. Ives, Ludlow. 

E. Kilburn, Walpole. 
A. Knapp, Berlin. 
S. Osgood, Hanover. 

A. Parker, Cavendish. 
John Parker, do. 

J. Proctor, do. 
S. Prentiss, Walpole. 
S. Prouty, Langdon. 
W. Ripley, Cornish. 
T. Shipley, Keene. 
T. Stone, Cavendish. 
N.R. Smith, Walpole. 
L. Tuttle, Bellows' Falls. 

G. Taylor, Burke. 

C. Webb, Rockingham, 
L. Weld, Guilford. 

J. Wells, Keene. 

B. W^illey, Walpole. 

J. Wellman, jr. Ccrnish. 
J. Woodman, Newgrantlif.m. 
J. WhitCj Newpon. 



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